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JOSePH  C.RDBBiNS 


BV  3265  .R58  1922 
Robbins,  Joseph  Chandler 

1874- 
Following  the  pioneers 


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Mission  StatiorvJ: 
Other  Plates 


FOLLOWING  THE 
PIONEERS 


FOLLOWING  THE 
PIONEERS 


A  STORY  OF 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST  MISSION  WORK 
IN  INDIA  AND  BURMA 


Byy 
JOSEPH  C.  ROBBINS 

Foreign  Secretary  of  the  American  Baptist 
Foreign  Mission  Society 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE    JUDSON     PRESS 

BOSTON  CHICAGO  ST.  LOUIS  LOS  ANGELFS 

KANSAS  CITY  SEATTLE  TORONTO 


Copyright,  1922,  by 
GILBERT  N.  BRINK,  Secretary 


Published  October,  1922 


Printed  in  U.  S.  A. 


TO    THE 

MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  INDIAN  EMPIRE 

IN    FAITH,    COURAGE,    AND    DEVOTION 
WORTHY    SUCCESSORS    OF    CAREY    AND    JUDSON 
PIONEER    MISSIONARIES   OF   BURMA  AND   INDIA 


FOREWORD 


'•  There's  a  legion  that  never  was  listed, 
That  carries  no  colors  nor  crest, 
But,  split  in  a  thousand  detachments. 
Is  breaking  the  road  for  the  rest." 

The  unlisted  legion  of  Christian  missionaries  and  their 
followers  in  India  have  left  a  trail  of  light  along  which 
the  mighty  highways  of  a  Christian  civilization  are  being 
built.  Their  imperishable  records  are  written  in  the 
transformed  lives  of  India's  people. 

India,  the  cradle  of  the  human  family,  is  a  land  of 
origins,  of  great  race  movements,  of  pagan  faiths,  and 
of  missionary  triumphs.  It  is  a  veritable  wonderland  of 
human  interest.  In  the  recital  of  history's  record,  noth- 
ing stands  out  more  luminously  than  the  long  disclosure 
of  God  himself  in  the  lives  of  his  missionary  messengers. 
India  records  the  victories  of  Christian  faith  as  does  no 
other  land.  "  Following  the  Pioneers  "  gives  us  a  great 
amoimt  of  interesting  and  necessary  information  about 
India  today.  The  book  is  written  in  terms  of  that  same 
faith  and  optimism  which  actuated  the  pioneers. 

"  Following  the  Pioneers  ''  satisfies  our  hunger  for 
facts  about  the  enheartening  achievements  of  recent  Chris- 
tian movements  in  India.  The  book  will  be  found  of 
great  value  to  Baptist  teachers  and  leaders  of  mission 


Foreword 


study  groups  for  the  reading  and  study  courses  on  India, 
and  it  is  so  recommended  by  the  Department  of  Mission- 
ary Education,  at  whose  urgent  request  Doctor  Robbins 
has  prepared  the  manuscript.  We  are  greatly  indebted 
to  the  author  for  this  latest  accession  to  our  important 
literature  on  India. 

William  A.  Hill, 

Secretary  of  Missionary  Education. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

A  FEW  days  before  we  sailed  from  Burma  for  America 
in  April,  1922,  I  received  the  following  message  from  our 
Department  of  Missionary  Education : 

Prepare  quickly  manuscript  education  book  Society's  mission 
work  in  India  for  publication  on  arrival.  Telegraph  definite  reply 
at  once  as  announcement  in  regard  to  book  must  be  made  imme- 
diately. 

This  book  was,  therefore,  written  on  shipboard,  and  was 
made  possible  through  the  generous  and  efficient  coopera- 
tion and  assistance  of  my  missionary  fellow  passenger, 
Rev.  C.  E.  Chaney,  of  Burma.  Mr.  Chaney  typed  the  entire 
manuscript  and  supplied  much  of  the  material  for  chap- 
ters two  and  three  on  our  Burmese  and  Karen  missions.  I 
have  drawn  freely  in  the  following  pages  from  letters 
and  reports  of  our  missionaries  who  have  always  been 
such  a  continual  help  and  inspiration  to  me  in  every  way 
in  my  two  visits  to  India  and  Burma. 

In  this  book,  I  have  written  of  the  work  of  the  Amer- 
ican Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society  in  British  India. 
I  am  not  unmindful,  however,  of  the  large  and  important 
work  being  done  by  the  missionaries  and  missionary  so- 
cieties of  the  Protestant  churches  of  Great  Britain,  the 
United  States,  and  Canada  in  India,  Burma,  and  Assam. 


Author's  Preface 


In  Burma  American  Methodists,  British  Episcopalians, 
and  Wesleyans  and  in  India  practically  all  the  great  Prot- 
estant communions  are  cooperating  in  the  extension  of 
the  kingdom  of  God. 

The  richest  experiences  of  my  two  trips  to  Burma  and 
India  have  been  the  close  and  intimate  relationship  and 
helpful  fellowship  that  Mrs.  Robbins  and  myself  have  en- 
joyed with  our  missionaries  in  these  lands.  The  mission- 
ary body  rep.resents  all  that  is  most  worthy  and  most 
noble  and  most  Christian  in  our  civilization.  I  doubt  if 
there  is  another  group  of  people  in  the  whole  world 
more  devoted,  more  unselfish,  more  earnest  under  great 
overburdening  tasks  than  the  missionaries  of  the  church 
of  the  living  God. 

My  one  hope  in  writing  this  book  is  that  the  Indian 
Empire  and  mission  work  in  India  and  Burma  may 
have  its  full  and  rightful  share  of  our  intelligent  in- 
terest, practical  help,  and  daily  prayer  so  that  India,  once 
described  by  Lord  Beaconsfield  as  "  the  brightest  jewel 
in  the  British  crown,"  may,  in  the  coming  years,  unite 
with  all  the  world  in  acclaiming  Jesus  Christ  as  the  King 
of  kings  and  in  crowning  him  Lord  of  all. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  Interesting  India  1 

II.  Burma  :  Pioneering  in  Faith  23 

III.  The  Karens  of  Burma  :  Triumphant  Chris- 

tianity        47 

IV.  Burma  :  To  All  Peoples 69 

V.  South  India  :  The  Gospel  and  Social  Up 

lift    91 

VI.  Bengal-Orissa  :  The  Verdun  of  Hinduism  119 

VII.  Assam  :  The  Future  Bright  with  Hope  . .   137 

Bibliography    161 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Temple  of  Juggernaut,  at  Puri,  India.  .  .Frontispiece 

Basket-ball  Game,  Judson  College,  Rangoon,  Burma  4 

Taj  Mahal,  at  Agra,  India 4 

Hindus  Bathing  in  the  Ganges,  India 10 

William  Carey,  Baptist  Pioneer  in  India 20 

Adoniram  Judson,  Baptist  Pioneer  in  Burma 26 

Kemendine  Girls'  School,  Rangoon,  Burma. 42 

Dr.  Ma  Sazv  Sa,  Superintendent  of  Dufferin  Hospital, 

Rangoon,  Burma  48 

Morton  Lane  Girls'  School,  Moulmein,  Burma 54 

Ko  TJia  Byu  Memorial  Building,  Bassein,  Burma ...  54 

Choir  of  Sgaw  Karen  High  School,  Bassein,  Burma.  .64 

Karen  Preachers  at  Sgazv  Karen  Association,  Bas- 
sein, Burma    64 

Crossing  the  River  Sahueen  on  the  Way  to  the  Lahu 

Association  at  Mong  Lem,  China 72 

Breaking  Camp  on  the  Way  to  the  Lahu  Association, 

Mong  Lem,  China 84 

Prayer-meeting  Hill,  Ongolc,  India  (two  views)  ....  96 

Engine-shed  and  Freight-houses,  Kharagpur,  Bengal- 

Orissa    100 


List  of  Illustrations 


Crowd  on  Bank  at  Baptism,  Kavali,  India 100 

The  Gospel  and  the  Plozv,  Coles  Vocational  School, 

Kurnool^  India 100 

Doctor  Kirhy's  Assistant  Treating  a  Leper,  Jorhat, 

Assam    108 

Ward  in  the  Nellore  Hospital,  Nellore,  India 108 

Staif  of  Union  Medical  College,  Vellore,  India 112 

Girls'  Training-school  Graduates^  Nozvgong,  Assam  112 

Girl  Scouts,  Nellore  High  ScJiool 116 

Mealtime  at  Sinclair  Orphanage^  Balasore,  Bengal- 

Orissa    120 

Blacksmith  Shop,  Balasore  Industrial  School 128 

Hindu  Goddess  Kali,  Midnapore,  Bengal-Orissa.  . .  .    128 

Tata  Iron  Works  from  a  Distance,  lamshedpur,  Ben- 
gal-Orissa     132 

Rev.  O.  L.  Swanson  Preaching  from  a  Motor-car, 

Golaghat,  Assam   132 

Dr.  Y.  Nandamah,  South  India 140 

Native  Sazvmill,  India 148 

Doctor  and    Mrs.    Witter    and    Students,    Ga^ihati, 

Assam    148 

Khanto  Beta  Rai,  Midnapore,  Bengal-Orissa 156 


INTERESTING  INDIA 


He  is  crude  with  the  strength  of  the  seeker  of  toil ; 
From  the  hot,  barren  wastes  he  is  gathering  spoil 
For  a  nation  that  lives  from  the  bounty  he  gives — 
He's  the  Builder,  the  Winner  of  Ways. 

Where  the  silent  wastes  bake  in  the  summer's  hot  glow. 
Where  the  forests  are  choked  in  the  shroud  of  the  snow, 
By  his  brain  and  his  brawn  a  new  nation  is  born — 
He  goes  forth  to  conquer  new  realms. 

And  the  world  has  its  heroes  of  lace  and  gold  braid, 
That  are  honored  and  wined  for  the  waste  they  have  made ; 
But  the  world  little  knows  of  the  debt  that  it  owes 
To  the  Hewer,  the  Blazer  of  Trails. 

— Rudyard  Kipling. 


INTERESTING  INDIA 


India  is  the  most  interesting  country  in  the  world.  The 
subcontinent  Empire  of  India,  including  Burma,  with  its 
population  of  319,000,000,  one-fifth  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  world,  is  undergoing  stupendous  changes.  It  is  a  new 
India.  Everywhere  there  is  evidence  of  an  intense  na- 
tionalism, which  in  some  places  approaches  revolution. 
The  future  of  this  mighty  Empire  is  of  compelling  in- 
terest and  is  one  of  the  major  problems  of  world  politics. 
It  is  a  question  which  will  demand  the  highest  wis- 
dom and  largest  statesmanship.  The  very  magnitude 
of  the  country  and  the  central  position  which  it  will  of 
necessity  hold  in  the  future,  make  the  question  of  India 
one  of  supreme  international  importance  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  brotherhood  of  nations,  world  peace,  and  the 
advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  One  of  India's 
Nationalistic  leaders  has  stated  the  case  of  India's  future 
as  follows: 

To  an  Indian  the  problem  of  India  is  national ;  with  a  Britisher 
it  is  imperial;  but  to  humanity  it  is  international.  India  is  such 
a  huge  slicfe  of  the  earth,  and  contains  such  an  immense  popula- 
tion, than  no  person  interested  in  world  affairs  can  ignore  its 
importance.  Historically,  it  is  the  pivot  of  the  Orient.  Religiously, 
it  occupies  a  wholly  unique  place  in  Asia  because  it  is  the  home  of 
Hinduism,  the  birthplace  of  Buddhism,  the  most  important  field 
of  Islamic  activity.  It  is  the  center  of  Asiatic  culture ;  China  and 
Japan  bow  to  it  in  reverence,  while  central  Asia  and  western 
Mohammedan  countries  look  to  it  for  support  and  sympathy.  Its 
human  potentialities  of  all  kinds  are  very  great.  Commercially 
too,  it  is  strategic  for  nearly  half  the  globe.    It  is  the  key  to  the 

3 


Following  the  Pioneers 


Indian  Ocean  and  the  clearing-house  of  the  larger  part  of  the 
trade  of  the  Orient.  Its  natural  resources  are  so  enormous  as  to 
defy  the  imagination.  This  is  the  reason  why  militarism  and 
imperialism  have  always  looked  upon  it  with  eyes  of  greed  and 
glory.  This  is  why  India  has  inspired  Alexanders,  Tamerlanes, 
Wellesleys,  czars,  and  kaisers  with  visions  of  world  empire. 

The  vastness  of  India,  the  varied  extent  of  her  lands, 
the  striking  differences  of  her  people,  make  the  problem  of 
India  most  complex  and  baffling.  Practically  every  stage 
of  racial  development  and  civilization,  from  the  rude, 
naked  savage  and  head-hunting,  wild  hill-tribes  to  the 
most  advanced  civilization  and  culture,  is  here  repre- 
sented. According  to  Lord  Curzon,  "  Powerful  empires 
existed  and  flourished  in  India  while  Englishmen  were 
still  wandering  in  the  woods  of  Europe."  From  the  sun- 
baked plains  of  South  India  to  the  snow-capped  Hima- 
layas India  has  every  variety  of  climate  and  fauna.  One 
hundred  forty-seven  languages  are  spoken  in  India, 
twenty-three  of  which  are  used  by  a  million  or  more 
people.  Forty-five  million  speak  Bengali,  and  sixty  mil- 
lion Hindustani.  These  provinces,  mighty  nations  in 
themselves,  are  as  different  from  one  another  as  Japan 
and  China.  In  addition  to  the  Provinces  in  this  vast 
Empire  directly  under  the  British  Rajah,  there  are  700 
feudatory  states  ruled  over  by  native  Princes.  Two  hun- 
dred of  these  states  are  of  major  importance  with  millions 
of  people.  The  State  of  Hyderabad,  with  a  population  of 
13,000,000,  is  as  large  as  Italy.  This  state  is  ruled  over 
by  His  Royal  Highness,  the  Nizam,  a  Mohammedan 
Prince.  India  is  a  land  of  striking  contrasts,  from  the 
poor  mud  huts  of  the  millions  of  outcastes  in  South  India 
to  the  Taj  Mahal,  acclaimed  the  most  beautiful  building  in 
the  world :  The  Taj  was  erected  by  the  Mogul  Emperor, 
Shah  Jehan,  as  a  tomb  and  memorial  to  his  wife,  and 


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Interesting  India 


fully  justifies  the  praise  of  the  Moguls  as  builders,  "  They 
designed  like  Titans  and  finished  like  jewelers."  This 
building  has  been  more  abundantly  described  than  any 
other  building  in  the  world.  One  readily  agrees  with 
the  writer  who  said :  *'  It  can  only  be  described  as  a  dream 
in  marble,"  and  we  repeat  with  approval  the  words  of  the 
old  soldier  chief,  Lord  Roberts,  "  Neither  words  nor 
pencil  could  give  to  the  most  imaginative  reader  the 
slightest  idea  of  the  all-satisfying  beauty  and  purity  of 
this  glorious  conception."  To  see  the  Taj  Alahal  is  well 
worth  a  journey  to  India. 

The  wonder  and  interest  of  India  led  Mark  Twain  to 
write  in  '*  Following  the  Equator  "  : 

This  is  India,  the  land  of  dreams  and  of  romance,  of  fabulous 
wealth,  of  fabulous  poverty,  of  splendor  and  of  rags,  of  palaces 
and  hovels,  of  tigers  and  elephants.  Cradle  of  the  human  race, 
birthplace  of  human  speech ;  mother  of  religion ;  grandmother  of 
history;  great-grandmother  of  tradition.  The  land  of  a  hundred 
nations  and  of  a  hundred  tongues ;  of  a  thousand  religions  and  of 
three  million  gods,  and  she  worships  them  all.  All  other  countries 
in  religion  are  paupers ;  India  is  the  only  millionaire.  The  one 
sole  land  under  the  sun  that  is  endowed  with  an  imperishable  in- 
terest for  all  men ;  rich  and  poor,  bond  and  free ;  alien  prince 
and  alien  peasant;  all  men  want  to  see  India,  and  having  seen  it 
once  even  by  a  glimpse,  would  not  give  up  that  glimpse  for  all 
the  rest  of  the  shows  of  the  earth  combined. 

Modern  industry  is  entering  India,  and  there  are  great 
factories  in  Madras,  Calcutta,  and  Bombay.  There  is  a 
new  industrial  movement,  and  in  the  adjustment  from 
the  small  village  life  and  handworkers  to  the  great  cities 
and  factories  there  is  that  incessant  beat  of  life  upon  life 
with  its  accompaniment  of  new  desires,  ambitions,  and 
deep  dissatisfaction  at  the  inequality,  injustice,  and  misery 
of  existing  conditions.  The  artisans  and  laboring  class 
are  coming  to  realize  that  they  are  a  power  in  the  land. 


Following  the  Pioneers 


and  there  have  been  as  many  as  two  hundred  labor  strikes 
in  India  in  a  single  year.  At  one  time  in  Bombay  the 
postal  and  telegraph  men,  the  gas  workers,  and  street-car 
employees  were  all  on  strike. 

One  of  the  features  of  the  New  India  is  the  part  played 
by  the  women  of  the  land.  Hitherto  the  interest  of  the 
Indian  woman  was  confined  to  her  home,  her  husband, 
and  her  children.  Now  a  great  number  have  begun  to 
discard  the  purdah  and  take  an  active  interest  in  the 
larger  affairs  of  the  land.  Organizations  of  women  are 
springing  up  all  over  the  country.  There  are  the  Indian 
Woman's  Suffrage  Association  and  the  All-India  MusHm 
Woman's  Association,  and  a  Woman's  Conference  meets 
annually  now  in  connection  with  the  India  National  So- 
cial Congress.  Delegates  from  India  were  sent  in  1920 
to  the  International  Woman's  Suffrage  Alliance  in 
Geneva.  Woman's  suffrage  is  being  most  seriously  dis- 
cussed, and  the  Assemblies  of  Bombay  and  Madras  have 
recently  voted  to  extend  the  franchise  to  women.  As  the 
franchise  is  based  on  property  qualifications,  and  as 
women  in  South  India  rarely  hold  property  under  the 
joint  family  system,  the  number  of  women  actually  en- 
franchised will  be  relatively  small.  This  vote,  however, 
was  a  real  victory  for  the  womanhood  of  India.  The 
Madras  decision  was  preceded  by  a  vigorous  agitation 
carried  on  by  the  Indian  Women's  Association  in  organ- 
izing meetings  and  deputations. 

The  history  of  women's  war  work  in  India  cannot  be 
told  in  a  few  words.  Suflice  it  to  say  that  it  was  the 
women  of  India  who  were  ready  and  able  to  supply 
the  vast  supplementary  needs  of  the  army  sent  to  Meso- 
potamia in  1914.  From  that  moment  the  women  of 
India  came  into  their  own,  and  there  has  been  no  look- 
ing back.    The  chairman  of  the  big  body  of  women  work- 


Interesting  India 


ers  in  Bombay — the  Women's  Council — is  a  Moham- 
medan woman;  the  children's  welfare  work  has  as  its 
chairman  a  Par  see  woman,  with  Indian  women  and  men 
as  a  majority  on  the  committee. 

Lord  Peel,  Secretary  of  State  for  India,  in  speaking 
of  the  new  constitution  proposed  for  Burma,  at  a  dinner 
in  London  said  : 

The  new  constitution  is  extraordinarily  interesting,  especially  as 
regards  the  position  of  women.  It  is  remarkable,  when  one  re- 
members the  tactics  that  were  adopted  by  the  women  suffragists 
here,  that  the  women  in  Burma  should  have  the  vote,  but  in  Burma, 
both  by  their  status  and  their  command  over  the  other  sex, 
it  seems  perfectly  natural  that  at  the  outset  women  should  have 
the  franchise,  whereas  in  the  neighboring  peninsula  of  India,  the 
decision  was  left  to  the  Council.  Another  remarkable  thing  is 
that  practically  household  suffrage  is  being  established  in  Burma, 
and  it  is  noteworthy  that  at  a  bound,  as  it  were,  Burma  should  be 
ready  for  so  advanced  a  legislative  system. 

There  will  be  no  sex  disqualification  in  the  new  constitu- 
tion which  Burma  will  receive  at  the  beginning  of  1923. 
There  is  also  intellectual  unrest.  Here,  it  is  the  old 
story  of  the  old  skins  unable  to  hold  the  new  wine. 
Education,  easy  transportation,  rapid  communication, 
periodicals,  newspapers,  books — all  this  mental  yeast  must 
result  in  intellectual  ferment.  There  are  more  than  one 
thousand  newspapers  in  India,  and  seven  hundred  books 
are  published  annually  in  the  native  languages.  Ever 
since  the  days  of  Dufif  and  Macaulay,  when  English  be- 
came the  language  of  the  schools  and  colleges  of  India, 
it  came  about  that  India  began  to  read  Milton  and  Burke, 
Mill  and  Spencer,  and  thus  to  become,  in  Lord  Morley's 
glowing  words,  "  intoxicated  with  the  ideas  of  freedom, 
nationality,  self-government,  that  breathe  the  breath  of 
life  in  these  inspiring  and  illuminating  pages." 


8  Following  the  Pioneers 

India  has  felt  the  heart-throb  of  the  great  nationaHstic 
movements  of  the  earth.  The  growth  of  Asiatic  con- 
sciousness, the  victory  of  Japan  over  Russia,  democracy 
in  the  PhiHppine  Islands,  have  not  escaped  unnoticed. 
Their  effect  has  been  profoundly  intensified  by  the  reac- 
tion of  the  war,  to  which  India  contributed  over  one  mil- 
lion of  her  sons,  so  that  the  spirit  of  nationality  and 
democracy  has  seeped  through  the  consciousness  of  India 
and  found  expression  in  practically  every  gathering  of 
her  people. 

British  administration  of  India  is  one  of  the  marvels 
of  modern  government.  The  British  Empire  has  given 
India  unbroken  peace,  efficient  administration,  good  roads, 
railroads,  the  telegraph,  telephone,  post-office,  hospitals 
and  dispensaries,  a  school  system  leading  through  the 
lower  schools  up  to  the  university,  and  justice  with  courts 
of  law  based  on  our  Western  legal  system. 

In  1858,  the  statesmanship  of  the  new  order  in  India 
was  revealed  in  Queen  Victoria's  proclamation,  under 
which  India  was  taken  away  forever  from  the  control  of 
the  old  East  India  Company,  which  had  first  entered  India 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  before,  and  India  at  that 
time  became  a  part  of  the  British  Empire.  One  writer  has 
thus  described  this  event : 

Rajas,  whose  breasts  blazed  with  diamonds,  riding  on  elephants 
festooned  with  pearls  came  through  the  streets  of  the  ancient  city 
of  Allahabad  to  hear  the  words  of  the  Great  White  Queen-Mother 
from  across  "  the  black  water."  The  Indians  came  from  many- 
cities  to  where  the  Jumna  flows  past  Allahabad  to  join  Mother 
Ganges.  There,  in  the  great  plain,  half-way  between  Delhi  and 
Calcutta,  the  old  and  the  new  capitals  of  India,  Lord  Channing 
read  out  these  words  from  Queen  Victoria,  which  are  part  of  the 
Magna  Carta  of  India : 

"  We  shall  respect  the  rights,  dignity,  and  honor  of  native 
princes   as  our  own;   and  we  desire  that  they,  as  well  as  our 


Interesting  India 


own  subjects,  should  enjoy  that  prosperity  and  that  social  advance- 
ment which  can  only  be  secured  by  internal  peace  and  good  govern- 
ment. 

"  We  hold  ourselves  bound  to  the  natives  of  our  Indian  terri- 
tories by  the  same  obligations  and  duty  which  bind  us  to  all  our 
other  subjects,  and  those  obligations,  by  the  blessing  of  Almighty 
God,  we  shall  faithfully  and  conscientiously  fulfil. 

"  Firmly  relying  ourselves  on  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and 
acknowledging  with  gratitude  the  solace  of  religion,  we  disclaim 
alike  the  right  and  the  desire  to  impose  our  convictions  on  any 
of  our  subjects.  .  . 

"  And  it  is  our  further  will  that,  so  far  as  may  be,  our  sub- 
jects, of  whatever  race  or  creed,  be  freely  and  impartially  admitted 
to  offices  in  our  service,  the  duties  of  which  they  may  be  quali- 
fied by  their  education,  ability,  and  integrity  duly  to  discharge." 

The  proclamation  then  makes  the  following  tremendous  prom- 
ises, and  lays  down  once  and  for  all  the  great  principle  that  forms 
the  basis  of  the  British  raj  in  India : 

"  When,  by  the  blessing  of  Providence,  internal  tranquillity  shall 
be  restored,  it  is  our  earnest  desire  to  stimulate  the  peaceful  in- 
dustry of  India,  to  promote  works  of  public  utility  and  improve- 
ment, and  to  administer  the  government  for  the  benefit  of  all 
our  subjects  resident  therein.  In  their  prosperity  will  be  our 
strength,  in  their  contentment  our  security,  and  in  their  gratitude 
our  best  reward.  And  may  the  God  of  all  power  grant  to  us, 
and  to  those  in  authority  under  us,  strength  to  carry  out  these 
wishes  for  the  good  of  our  people." 

On  August  20,  1917,  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India 
made  the  following  announcement  in  the  House  of 
Commons : 

The  policy  of  His  Majesty's  Government,  with  which  the  Gov- 
ernment of  India  is  in  complete  accord,  is  that  of  the  increasing 
association  of  Indians  in  every  branch  of  the  administration,  and 
the  gradual  development  of  self-governing  institutions  with  a  view 
to  the  progressive  realization  of  responsible  government  in  India 
as  an  integral  part  of  the  British  Empire. 

In  harmony  with  this  proposal  Mr.  Montagu,  then  Sec- 
retary of  State  for  India,  visited  India  in  the  winter  of 


10  Following  the  Pioneers 

1917-18,  and  after  a  most  careful  and  exhaustive  study  of 
the  situation  in  conjunction  with  Lord  Chelmsford,  then 
Viceroy  of  India,  presented  the  Report  on  Indian  Con- 
stitutional Reforms. 

A  bill  embodying  the  main  recommendations  of  the 
Montagu-Chelmsford  report  passed  both  houses  of  Par- 
liament without  opposition.  This  bill,  affecting  as  it  does 
nearly  one-fifth  of  the  human  race,  is  perhaps  one  of  the 
most  fateful  enactments  that  Parliament  has  passed.  It 
gives  to  the  Indian  people  at  the  outset  an  active  part  in 
the  administration  of  the  government,  especially  in  pro- 
vincial government.  It  divides  the  government  in  each 
Province  into  two  sections;  on  the  one  hand,  the  gov- 
ernor with  his  official  colleagues  in  executive  council,  and 
on  the  other,  the  governor  with  ministers  drawn  from 
the  provincial  legislative  assemblies.  To  the  former  will 
be  reserved  the  administration  of  the  more  fundamental 
duties  of  the  state,  such  as  the  maintenance  of  law  and 
order,  the  administration  of  the  universities,  industries, 
land  revenue,  forests,  and  irrigation.  To  the  other  sec- 
tion will  be  transferred  the  remaining  duties,  such  as  con- 
trol of  local  bodies,  primary  education,  sanitation,  agri- 
culture, excise,  roads,  and  bridges. 

After  ten  years'  trial  a  parliamentary  commission  will 
visit  India  to  study  and  report  on  the  success  of  these 
steps  in  self-government.  If  the  report  is  favorable, 
further  subjects  will  be  transferred  to  the  Indian  minis- 
ters. And  so  the  process  will  go  on  until  responsible 
government  is  fully  established  and  the  transitional  sys- 
tem of  dualism  is  superseded  by  unified  popular  adminis- 
tration. The  act  further  provides  for  a  two-chamber  sys- 
tem of  legislature  at  Delhi  and  provides  for  a  larger 
number  of  Indian  members  on  the  Viceroy's  executive 
council. 


Interesting  India  11 


The  new  representative  government  that  is  to  lead 
India  onward  toward  complete  self-government  as  an 
equal  partner  in  the  British  Commonwealth  of  Nations 
was  inaugurated  on  February  9,  1921,  at  Delhi,  the 
capital  of  the  Empire.  To  bring  home  to  every  Indian 
the  full  significance  of  the  occasion,  the  King  Emperor 
in  his  royal  message  said : 

For  years — it  may  be  for  generations — patriotic  and  loyal  In- 
dians have  dreamed  of  swaraj  for  their  motherland.  Today  you 
have  the  beginnings  of  swaraj  within  my  Empire,  and  the  widest 
scope  and  ample  opportunity  for  progress  to  the  liberty  which  my 
other  dominions  enjoy. 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  both  the  Provincial  Coun- 
cils and  the  Imperial  Legislative  Assembly  at  Delhi  have 
shown  a  sense  of  responsibility  and  a  statesmanlike  grasp 
of  public  questions,  ofttimes  in  the  face  of  grave  dif- 
ficulties, which  have  been  a  surprise  and  gratification 
to  their  friends.  Their  earnest  and  conscientious  work 
has  received  commendation  from  the  Viceroy  and  the 
Secretary  of  State  for  India. 

Indian  ministers  have  charge  of  important  portfolios, 
and  an  Indian,  Lord  Sinha  of  Raipar,  has  served  as 
governor  of  one  of  the  great  Provinces  of  India,  and  an 
Indian,  Lord  Sastri,  was  one  of  the  representatives  of  the 
British  Empire  at  the  Conference  on  Limitation  of  Arma- 
ments at  Washington. 

India  is  today  in  poHtical  ferment.  Of  the  main  polit- 
ical groups  there  is,  first,  the  great  illiterate  and  inarticu- 
late mass  who  know  very  little  about  India's  political 
problems  and  care  less.  This  group  is  gradually  being 
permeated  with  the  spirit  of  restlessness,  and  is  easily 
aroused  by  the  political  agitator.  Secondly,  there  are 
the  Moderates,  now  in  the  minority,  who  favor  accepting 


12  Following  the  Pioneers 

the  Reform  Scheme  as  passed  by  the  British  ParHament, 
and  are  cooperating  with  the  Government  in  the  National 
and  Provincial  Constitutional  Assemblies.  As  the  ex- 
tremists refuse  to  stand  for  election,  the  Moderates  are 
now  in  office.  They  recognize  both  the  difficulty  and  the 
danger  in  moving  faster  toward  complete  independence 
than  internal  conditions  warrant.  They  aim  to  achieve 
ultimate  self-government  for  India  as  an  integral  part  of 
the  British  Empire.  Before  this  can  be  accomplished 
they  realize  that  India  must  have  a  larger  measure  of 
education  and  improvement  in  social  and  economic  con- 
ditions. They  acknowledge  that  Great  Britain's  pres- 
ence and  help  are  still  needed.  The  third  group  is  the 
Radicals,  which  includes  most  of  the  present-day  Hindu 
and  Mohammedan  leaders.  They  are  not  satisfied  with 
the  new  reform  plan  and  demand  immediate  and  com- 
plete political  independence.  They  refused  to  run  for 
election  for  the  Assemblies  or  to  vote  in  the  elections, 
or  to  accept  any  office  under  the  Government.  They 
refuse  to  cooperate  in  any  way  with  the  Government. 
The  Radicals  have  been  led  the  past  few  years  by  a  very 
remarkable  man,  Mr.  IMohandas  K.  Gandhi.  Mr.  Valen- 
tine Chirol,  in  his  recent  book,  "  India  New  and  Old," 
writes  as  follows  of  Mr.  Gandhi : 

Saint  and  prophet  in  the  eyes  of  the  multitude  of  his  followers, 
saint  in  the  eyes  of  many  who  have  not  accepted  him  as  a  prophet, 
Mr.  Gandhi  preaches  today  under  the  name  of  "  Non-cooperation  " 
a  gospel  of  revolt.  Mr.  Gandhi  challenges  not  only  the  material 
but  the  moral  foundations  of  British  rule.  He  has  passed  judg- 
ment both  on  British  rule  and  Western  civilization,  and  condemn- 
ing both  as  "  Satanic,"  his  cry  is  away  with  the  one  and  with 
the  other,  and  "  Back  to  the  Vedas,"  the  fountain-source  of  ancient 
Hinduism.  That  he  is  a  power  in  the  land  none  can  deny,  least 
of  all  since  the  new  Viceroy,  Lord  Reading,  almost  immediately 
on  his  arrival  in  India  spent  long  hours  in  close  conference  with 


Interesting  India  13 


him.  Born  in.  1869,  in  Gugarat  District  in  the  north  of  Bombay 
Presidency,  Gandhi  comes  of  very  respectable  Hindu  parentage,  but 
does  not  belong  to  one  of  the  higher  castes.  He  himself  was  brought 
up  for  the  bar,  and  after  receiving  the  usual  education  in  India, 
completed  his  studies  in  England.  His  mother,  whose  religious 
example  and  influence  made  a  lasting  impression  upon  his  char- 
acter, held  the  most  orthodox  Hindu  views  and  only  agreed  to 
his  crossing  "  the  Black  water "  to  England  after  exacting  from 
him  a  threefold  vow,  which  he  faithfully  kept,  of  abstinence  from 
flesh  and  alcohol  and  women.  He  returned  to  India  as  soon  as 
he  had  been  called  to  the  bar,  and  began  practise  as  an  Advocate 
before  the  Bombay  High  Court.  In  1893  he  was  called  to  South 
Africa  with  an  Indian  legal  case,  and  gave  himself  for  many  years 
for  the  rights  of  his  countrymen  in  South  Africa.  Mr.  Gandhi 
returned  to  India  just  after  the  outbreak  of  the  Great  War,  and 
the  Government  of  India  marked  its  appreciation  of  the  great  ser- 
vices he  had  rendered  to  his  countrymen  in  South  Africa  by 
recommending  him  for  the  Kaisar-i-Hind  gold  medal,  which  was 
conferred  upon  him  among  the  New  Year's  honors  of  1915.  The 
doctrine  which  he  holds  of  all  others  to  be  the  corner-stone 
of  his  religion  is  that  of  the  Ahimsa^  which,  as  he  has  described  it, 
"  requires  deliberate  self-suffering,  not  the  deliberate  injuring  of 
the  wrong-doer  in  the  resistance  of  evil." 

To  the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  India,  Mr.  Gandhi 
is  a  prophet  and  a  hero,  and  while  some  parts  of  his 
pohtical  and  economic  program  seemed  most  impractical, 
his  moral  and  physical  courage,  his  purity  of  life,  his 
honesty  of  purpose,  and  his  devotion  to  India  are  univer- 
sally recognized  by  all  who  have  met  him  pe-rsonally 
or  who  have  made  a  careful  and  unbiased  study  of  his 
writings  and  speeches. 

Non-cooperation  under  Mr.  Gandhi's  leadership  had  a 
most  remarkable  hold  on  all  classes  of  people.  I  was  in 
India,  November  17,  1921,  when  the  Prince  of  Wales 
landed  in  Bombay.  Mr.  Gandhi  had  proclaimed  a  hartal, 
a  day  of  public  mourning,  in  which  all  business  should 

^  The  Hindu  doctrine  of  the  sinfulness  of  taking  life. 


14  Following  the  Pioneers 

cease,  making  it  practically  a  nation-wide  strike.  There 
was  rioting  and  bloodshed  at  Bombay,  and  a  remarkable 
strike  was  proclaimed  in  the  great  city  of  Calcutta  and 
many  of  the  larger  towns.  In  Calcutta  the  success  of  the 
non-cooperation  movement  was  most  extraordinary.  No 
street-cars  were  in  operation  during  the  day,  no  taxis  or 
public  conveyances  of  any  kind  were  available,  no  cart- 
men  or  coolies  for  transporting  baggage.  The  markets 
and  shops  were  all  closed,  and  even  the  servants  in  private 
houses  were  affected  by  the  strike  and  refused  to  work 
on  that  day.  Calcutta  is  a  city  of  1,700,000.  When  I 
was  there  just  a  week  before,  the  traffic  was  so  con- 
gested with  automobiles,  carriages,  and  bullock-carts  that 
our  taxi  was  held  up  fifteen  minutes  in  a  traffic  jam. 
On  the  seventeenth  there  was  not  a  cart,  street-car,  or 
automobile  on  the  street.  Two  days  after  the  Bombay 
riots  Mr.  Gandhi,  who  preaches  passive  resistance  and 
non-violence,  issued  the  following  appeal : 

It  is  not  possible  to  describe  the  agony  I  have  suffered  during 
the  past  two  days.  I  am  writing  this  now  at  3.30  a.  m.  at  perfect 
peace.  After  two  hours'  prayer  and  meditation  I  have  found  it.  I 
must  refuse  to  eat  or  drink  anything  but  water  till  the  Hindus 
and  Mohammedans  of  Bombay  have  made  peace  with  the  Parsees, 
Christians,  and  Jews,  and  till  non-cooperators  have  made  peace 
with  the  cooperators.  The  szvaraj^  which  I  have  witnessed  in 
the  last  two  days  has  stunk  in  my  nostrils.  The  non-violence  of 
the  non-cooperators  has  been  more  than  the  violence  of  the  coop- 
erators, for  with  non-violence  on  our  lips  we  have  terrorized  those 
who  have  differed  from  us,  and  in  so  doing  we  have  denied  our 
God.  There  is  only  one  God  for  us  all,  whether  we  find  him 
through  the  Koran,  the  Bible,  the  Zendavesta,  the  Talmud,  or 
the  Geeta,  and  he  is  the  God  of  Truth  and  Love.  I  cannot  hate 
an  Englishman  or  any  one  else,  I  have  spoken  and  written  much 
against  his  institutions,  especially  the  one  he  has  set  up  in  India. 
I  shall  continue  to  do  so  if  I  live.     But  we  must  not  mistake  my 

2  Self-government. 


Interesting  India  15 


condemnation  of  the  system  for  the  man.  My  rehgion  requires 
me  to  love  him  as  I  love  myself.  I  would  deny  God  if  I  did 
not  attempt  to  prove  it  at  this  critical  moment. 

Mr.  Gandhi  was  arrested  on  March  9,  1922,  and  pleaded 
guilty  to  the  charge  of  sedition.  The  following  quota- 
tions from  his  speech  when  sentenced  by  the  judge  to  six 
years'  imprisonment  and  the  remarks  of  the  judge  at 
that  time  will  give  the  reader  a  glimpse  into  the  character 
of  this  remarkable  man  who  has  made  such  a  tremendous 
impression  upon  the  Ufe  of  India.  He  had  written  out 
what  he  wished  to  say,  but  first  made  this  oral  statement : 

Before  I  read  what  I  have  written,  I  would  like  to  say  that  I 
entirely  endorse  the  learned  Advocate  General's  remarks  in  con- 
nection with  my  humble  self.  I  think  he  was  entirely  fair  to  me 
in  the  statements  he  has  made,  because  it  is  very  true,  and  I  have 
no  desire  to  conceal  from  this  court  the  fact  that  to  preach  dis- 
affection toward  the  existing  system  of  government  has  become 
almost  a  passion  with  me.  And  the  learned  Advocate  General  is 
entirely  in  the  right  when  he  says  that  my  preaching  of  dis- 
affection did  not  commence  with  my  connection  with  Young  India, 
but  that  it  commenced  much  earlier,  and  in  the  statement  that  I 
am  about  to  read  it  will  be  my  painful  duty  to  admit  before 
this  court  that  it  commenced  much  earlier  than  the  period  stated 
by  the  Advocate  General.  It  is  a  most  painful  duty  with  me,  but 
I  have  to  discharge  that  duty,  knowing  the  responsibility  that 
rested  upon  my  shoulders. 

And  I  wish  to  endorse  all  the  blame  that  the  Advocate  General 
has  thrown  on  my  shoulders  in  connection  with  the  Bombay 
occurrence,  the  Madras  occurrences,  and  Chauri  Chaura  occur- 
rences. Thinking  over  things  deeply,  and  sleeping  over  them  night 
after  night,  and  examining  my  heart,  I  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  dissociate  myself  from  the 
diabolical  crimes  of  Chauri  Chaura,  or  the  mad  outrages  of 
Bombay. 

He  is  quite  right  when  he  says  that  as  a  man  of  responsibility, 
a  man  having  received  a  fair  share  of  education,  having  had  a 
fair  share  of  experience  of  this  world,  I  should  know  the  con- 
sequences of  every  one  of  my  acts.     I  knew  them.     I  knew  that 


16  Following  the  Pioneers 

I  was  playing  with  fire.  I  ran  the  risk,  and  if  I  were  set  free 
would  still  do  the  same.  I  would  be  failing  in  my  duty  if  I  did 
not  do  so. 

I  have  felt  this  morning  that  I  would  be  failing  in  my  duty 
if  I  did  not  say  all  what  I  said  here  just  now.  I  wanted  to 
avoid  violence.  Non-violence  is  the  first  article  of  my  faith.  It 
is  the  last  article  of  my  faith.  But  I  had  to  make  my  choice. 
I  had  either  to  submit  to  a  system  which  I  consider  has  done  an 
irreparable  harm  to  my  country,  or  incur  the  risk  of  the  mad 
fury  of  my  people  bursting  forth  when  they  understood  the  truth 
from  my  lips.  I  know  that  my  people  have  sometimes  gone  mad. 
I  am  deeply  sorry  for  it.  And  I  am  here  to  submit,  not  to  a 
light  penalty,  but  to  the  highest  penalty.  I  do  not  ask  for  mercy. 
I  do  not  plead  any  extenuating  act.  I  am  here,  therefore,  to 
invite  and  submit  to  the  highest  penalty  that  can  be  inflicted  upon 
me  for  what  in  law  is  a  deliberate  crime  and  what  appears  to  me 
to  be  the  highest  duty  of  a  citizen. 

The  only  course  open  to  you,  Mr.  Judge,  is,  as  I  am  just  going 
to  say  in  my  statement,  either  to  resign  your  post  or  to  inflict  on 
me  the  severest  penalty.  If  you  believe  that  the  system  and  law 
you  are  assisting  to  administer  are  good  for  the  people,  I  do  not 
expect  that  kind  of  conversion.  But  by  the  time  I  have  finished 
with  my  statement,  you  will  perhaps  have  a  glimpse  of  what  is 
raging  within  my  breast  to  run  this  maddest  risk  which  a  sane 
man  can   run. 

He  concludes  his  written  statement  as  follows : 

In  fact,  I  believe  that  I  have  rendered  a  service  to  India  and 
England  by  showing  in  non-cooperation  the  way  out  of  the  un- 
natural state  in  which  both  are  living.  In  my  humble  opinion 
non- cooperation  with  evil  is  as  much  a  duty  as  is  cooperation 
with  good.  But  in  the  past  non-cooperation  has  been  deliberately 
expressed  in  violence  to  the  evil-doer.  I  am  endeavoring  to  show 
to  my  countrymen  that  violent  non-cooperation  only  multiplies 
evil,  and  that  as  evil  can  only  be  sustained  by  violence,  withdrawal 
of  support  of  evil  requires  complete  abstention  from  violence. 
Non-violence  implies  voluntary  submission  to  the  penalty  for  non- 
cooperation  with  evil. 

I  am  here,  therefore,  to  invite  and  submit  cheerfully  to  the 
highest  penalty  than  can  be  inflicted  upon  me  for  what  in  law  is 


Interesting  India  17 

a  deliberate  crime  and  what  appears  to  me  to  be  the  highest  duty 
of  a  citizen.  The  only  course  open  to  you,  the  judge  and  the 
assessors,  is  either  to  resign  your  posts  and  thus  dissociate  your- 
selves from  evil,  if  you  feel  that  the  law  you  are  called  upon  to 
administer  is  an  evil,  and  that  in  reality  I  am  innocent,  or  to  in- 
flict on  me  the  severest  penalty  if  you  believe  that  the  system  and 
the  law  you  are  assisting  to  administer  are  good  for  the  people 
of  this  country  and  that  my  activity  therefore  is  injurious  to  the 
public  weal. 

The  presiding  judge  then  pronounced  the  following 
judgment  and  sentence : 

Mr.  Gandhi,  y^u  have  made  my  task  easy  in  one  way  by  pleading 
guilty  to  the  charge.  Nevertheless,  what  remains,  namely,  the 
determination  of  a  just  sentence,  is  perhaps  as  difficult  a  proposi- 
tion as  a  judge  in  this  country  could  have  to  face.  The  law  is  no 
respecter  of  persons.  Nevertheless,  it  will  be  impossible  to  ignore 
the  fact  that  you  are  in  a  different  category  from  any  person 
I  have  ever  tried  cr  am  likely  to  have  to  try.  It  would  be  im- 
possible to  ignore  the  fact  that  in  the  eyes  of  millions  of  your 
countrymen  you  are  a  great  patriot  and  a  great  leader.  Ever. 
those  who  differ  from  you  in  politics  look  upon  you  as  a  man 
of  high  ideals  and  of  noble  and  even  saintly  life. 

I  have  to  deal  with  you  in  one  character  only.  It  is  not  my 
duty,  and  I  do  not  presume,  to  judge  or  criticise  you  in  any  other 
character.  It  is  my  duty  to  judge  you  as  a  man  subject  to  the 
law  who  has  on  his  own  admission  broken  the  law  and  committed 
what  to  an  ordinary  man  must  appear  to  be  grave  offenses  against 
the  state.  I  do  not  forget  that  you  have  consistently  preached 
against  violence  and  that  you  have  on  many  occasions,  as  I  am 
willing  to  believe,  done  much  to  prevent  violence.  But  having 
regard  to  the  nature  of  political  teaching  and  the  nature  of  many 
of  those  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  how  you  could  have  continued 
to  believe  that  violence  would  not  be  the  inevitable  consequence, 
it  passes  my  capacity  to  understand. 

There  are  probably  few  people  in  India  who  do  not  sincerely 
regret  that  you  should  l:ave  made  it  impossible  for  any  Govern- 
ment to  leave  you  at  liberty.  But  it  is  so.  I  am  trying  to  balance 
what  is  due  to  you  against  what  appears  to  me  to  be  necessary 
in  the  interest  of  the  public,  and  I  propose  in  passing  the  sentence 


18  Following  the  Pioneers 

to  follow  the  precedent  of  a  case  in  many  respects  similar  to  this 
case,  that  was  decided  some  twelve  years  ago.  I  mean  the  case 
against  Mr.  Balgangadhar  Tilak  under  the  same  section.  The 
sentence  that  was  passed  upon  him  as  it  finally  stood  was  a  sentence 
of  simple  imprisonment  for  six  years.  You  will  not  consider  it 
unreasonable,  I  think,  that  you  should  be  classed  with  Mr.  Tilak. 
That  is  a  sentence  of  two  years'  simple  imprisonment  on  each 
count  of  the  charge,  six  years  in  all,  which  I  feel  it  my  duty  to 
pass  on  you ;  and  I  should  like  to  say  in  doing  so  that  if  the  course 
of  events  in  India  should  make  it  possible  for  the  Government  to 
reduce  the  period  and  release  you  no  one  will  be  better  pleased 
than  I. 

Mr.  Gandhi  expressed  himself  as  satisfied  that  the 
sentence  was  "  as  light  as  any  judge  would  inflict  on  me, 
and  so  far  as  the  whole  proceedings  are  concerned,  I  must 
say  that  I  could  not  have  expected  greater  courtesy." 

There  is  a  great  temperance  and  prohibition  movement 
in  India.  Many  of  India's  thoughtful  leaders  are  opposed 
to  the  liquor  traffic.  The  creeds  of  the  three  great  non- 
Christian  religions  of  India,  Hinduism,  Mohammedanism, 
and  Buddhism,  are  solidly  against  the  liquor  traffic.  The 
Buddhists  have  a  young  people's  temperance  league  with  a 
monthly  publication,  and  there  is  a  very  strong  temper- 
ance sentiment  among  the  peoples  of  Burma,  both  Bud- 
dhist and  Christian.  The  prohibition  movement  in  Amer- 
ica has  deeply  interested  the  people  of  India,  and  great 
companies  of  people  gathered  to  hear  Rev.  William  E. 
(Pussyfoot)  Johnson  when  he  was  in  the  country  on  his 
tour  in  1921.  The  motive  power  for  an  aggressive  fight- 
ing of  the  liquor  and  drug  traffic  to  a  successful  finish 
must  come  from  the  missionaries  and  the  constituency 
of  the  Indian  Christian  church. 

India,  it  has  been  said,  is  not  only  a  land  of  romance, 
art,  and  beauty,  ''  it  is  in  religion  earth's  central  shrine." 
Wherever  one  travels  in  India  and  Burma,  he  is  impressed 


Interesting  India  19 

with  the  fact  that  he  is  in  a  country  where  religion 
holds  a  preeminent  and  central  place.  There  are  shrines, 
temples,  mosques,  pagodas,  and  Buddhist  monasteries  in 
all  parts  of  this  wonderful  land.  It  is  the  home  of  the 
three  great  militant  religions  of  the  world,  Buddhism, 
Mohammedanism,  and  Hinduism.  Both  Indian  and  Bur- 
man  society  are  based  on  religious  principles  and  dom- 
inated by  religious  ideals,  ritual,  and  motive.  Many  of 
the  social  problems  of  India  can  be  traced  to  religious 
causes  and  conditions.  The  strength  of  Hinduism  is  its 
social  system.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  more  durable  and 
powerful  social  fabric  was  ever  constructed  by  man  than 
the  social  system  of  Hindu  India.  The  history  of  India 
records  invasion  after  invasion,  but  the  resisting  power 
of  Hinduism  has  left  the  people  practically  unchanged. 
The  immense  hold  of  Hinduism  today  lies  not  in  its 
philosophy,  but  in  its  social  system  rooted  in  certain  re- 
ligious principles  and  maintained  in  full  vigor  even  where 
these  principles  are  little  understood  or  perhaps  denied. 
This  is  most  clearly  brought  out  in  the  system  of  caste 
which  holds  every  one  in  its  iron  grip  and  is  wrought  into 
the  very  warp  and  woof  of  the  Indian  social  fabric.  As 
the  mist  rolled  up  from  the  Ganges  we  saw  an  Indian 
walk  down  to  the  river  bank  where  the  Brahmans  were 
bathing  in  the  saving  waters  of  Mother  Ganges.  As 
the  bathers  come  up  from  the  river  he  paints  on  their 
foreheads  the  trident  or  some  other  emblem  of  their  de- 
votion to  Vishnu,  Siva,  or  other  god.  Each  man  wears 
the  symbol  of  that  immemorial  caste  which  was  adopted 
to  preserve  the  purity  of  Aryan  blood.  In  this  caste 
system  are  four  main  castes  and  2,378  subcastes.  All 
have  their  lines  so  rigidly  drawn  that  it  is  impossible 
for  a  man  to  pass  from  one  social  grade  to  another. 

Census  figures  are  just  available  showing  the  distribu- 


20  Following  the  Pioneers 

tion  of  the  people  of  India  by  religions.  The  outstanding- 
fact  is  that  the  proportion  of  the  vast  Hindu  population 
to  the  total  (319,000,000)  continues  to  decline  as  it  has 
done  for  forty  years  past. 

According  to  the  census  of  1891  the  proportion  of 
Christians  per  10,000  of  population  was  79,  ten  years  later 
it  was  99,  and  in  1911  it  was  124.  The  number  of  Chris- 
tians has  since  grown  from  3,876,000  to  4,754,000.  This 
gratifying  advance  has  been  most  marked  in  Southern 
India. 

The  religious  problem  of  India  is  one  of  the  outstand- 
ing problems  of  Christendom.  To  Baptists  this  is  a 
problem  of  peculiar  interest,  for  two  Baptist  missionaries, 
William  Carey,  the  consecrated  cobbler,  and  Adoniram 
Judson,  the  first  American  missionary  to  the  non-Chris- 
tian world,  inaugurated  the  modern  missionary  move- 
ment, and  it  was  to  India  and  Burma,  the  very  heart  of 
the  non-Christian  religions  of  the  world,  that  they  were 
divinely  guided  to  inaugurate  the  movement  that  has 
led  countless  millions  to  behold  the  "  light  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ." 

William  Carey  arrived  in  Calcutta  on  November  11, 
1793.  After  many  difficulties  he  settled  as  an  indigo 
planter  at  Malda,  North  Bengal.  He  studied  Bengali 
and  Sanskrit,  and  began  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into 
Bengali.  In  1800,  he  settled  at  Arapon,  six  miles  from 
Calcutta,  and  in  the  same  year  began  to  teach  Sanskrit 
and  Bengali  in  the  Government  college.  These  three 
pioneer  Baptist  missionaries,  Carey  the  cobbler.  Marsh- 
man  the  "  ragged  school-teacher,"  and  Ward  the  printer, 
were  men  of  large  outlook  and  broad  sympathies.  The 
basis  of  all  their  work  was  preaching  and  the  translation 
of  the  Bible.  They  laid  great  stress  on  education,  and 
Carey    recognized   the    medical    needs    of   the   work   by 


^'fl^^^^^^M 

^S '- = ^^^j|H 

■■■■■K^^ 

WILLIAM  CAREY 
Baptist  Pioneer  in  India 


Interesting  India  21 

bringing  with  him  to  India  John  Thomas,  a  physician, 
and  beginning  medical  work  and  work  for  lepers. 

The  printing-press  was  to  Carey  a  missionary  agency 
of  the  first  importance,  and  he  founded  the  first  Bengali 
newspaper  and  the  first  magazine  in  India.  In  the  work 
of  Scripture  translation  his  fame  remains  unequaled  to 
this  day,  for  from  the  mission  press  at  Serampore  Carey 
and  his  colleagues  sent  out  the  complete  Bible  in  six 
languages,  the  New  Testament  in  twenty-two  more,  and 
Scripture  portions  in  other  languages,  so  that  from  this 
center  the  Scriptures  in  forty  languages  went  out  to  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  Orient.  The  first  university  college  in 
India  was  founded  by  him  at  Serampore.  Before  1818, 
this  early  group  of  missionaries  had  established  more 
than  one  hundred  schools  with  several  thousand  pupils. 
Carey  was  interested  in  agriculture  and  formed  the 
"  Agricultural  and  Horticultural  Society  of  India  "  long 
before  any  similar  society  had  been  organized  in  Great 
Britain. 

Carey  had  no  small  place  in  the  social  reform  move- 
ment in  India.  His  pen  was  the  lance  of  a  Christian  knight 
as  he  strove  day  and  night  to  bring  the  Government  to 
his  view  and  do  away  by  Government  action  with  suttee, 
or  the  burning  of  widows,  in  India.  For  long  the  Gov- 
ernment feared  that  such  action  would  rouse  the  Hindus 
to  fury  in  defense  of  their  religion  and  its  customs.  Then 
one  day  the  Government  order  abolishing  suttee  was 
signed  by  the  Governor-general,  Lord  William  Bentinck, 
and  was  put  into  Carey's  hands.  He  had  been  appointed 
Government  translator,  for  he  knew  the  language  far 
better  than  any  of  the  civil  servants.  It  was  Sunday 
morning,  December  4,  1829.  Every  day  fresh  victims 
were  being  burned.  There  could  be  no  delay.  Before  the 
sun  had   set   Carey  had   finished   translating  the  great 


22  Following  the  Pioneers 

decree,  and  on  Monday  the  compositors  were  busy  set- 
ting the  type  that  the  order  might  be  known  through- 
out all  India.  Few  men  have  been  greater  factors  in 
the  social  progress  of  the  world  than  this  pioneer  foreign 
missionary. 


II 

BURMA:  PIONEERING  IN  FAITH 


I  have  no  doubt  that  God  is  preparing  the  way  for  the  con- 
version of  Burma  to  his  Son.  Nor  have  I  any  doubt  that  we  who 
are  now  here  are,  in  some  little  degree,  contributing  to  this 
glorious  event.  This  thought  fills  me  with  joy.  I  know  not  that 
I  shall  live  to  see  a  single  convert;  but,  notwithstanding,  I  feel 
that  I  would  not  leave  my  present  situation  to  be  made  a  king. — 
In  a  letter  to  Doctor  Baldzvin,  from  Adoniram  Judson,  dated 
August  26,  1817. 


BURMA :  PIONEERING  IN  FAITH 


The  Burma  Mission,  the  field  of  Judson,  Boardman, 
and  Gushing,  is  the  oldest  and  largest  mission  field  of  the 
American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society  in  the  non- 
Christian  world.  The  history,  extent,  triumphs,  and  solid 
worth  of  our  Burma  Baptist  Mission  is  one  of  the  out- 
standing achievements  of  the  Baptists  of  the  world. 

In  Burma  we  have  more  than  one  thousand  Baptist 
churches,  77,000  Baptist  church-members,  and  nearly  800 
schools  with  30,000  pupils. 

We  have  in  the  Burma  Mission  in  reality  ten  distinct 
Baptist  missions.  There  is  the  Burmese  Mission,  the 
Sgaw  Karen  Mission,  the  Pwo  Karen  Mission,  the  Shan 
Mission,  the  Kachin  Mission,  the  Chin  Mission,  the 
Talaing  Mission,  the  Anglo-Indian  Mission,  the  Indian 
Mission,  and  the  Lahu  Mission,  each  with  its  own  lan- 
guage, customs,  and  distinct  problems. 

Adoniram  Judson,  the  first  American  missionary  to  the 
non-Christian  world,  with  Mrs.  Judson,  landed  at  Ran- 
goon June  13,  1813,  nearly  a  year  and  a  half  after  sail- 
ing from  Salem,  Massachusetts,  on  the  brig  Caravan 
bound  for  Calcutta,  India.  While  taking  the  long  voyage 
from  America  to  India  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  changed 
their  denomination.  They  were  Congregationalists.  Mr. 
Judson  was  a  Congregational  minister.  His  father  was 
a  Congregational  minister.  He  was  being  sent  to  India 
as  a  missionary  by  the  Congregational  Foreign  Mission 
Board.  All  his  sympathies  and  affections  were  bound 
up  with  that  denomination.     On  his  way  to  India,  how- 

25 


26 Following  the  Pioneers 

ever,  he  became  a  Baptist.  Mr.  Judson  expected  to  meet 
in  India  the  eminent  EngHsh  Baptist  missionaries,  Carey, 
Marshman,  and  Ward.  He  thought  it. best  while  on  the 
ocean  to  arm  himself  beforehand  for  the  encounter  with 
these  formidable  champions  of  the  Baptist  position.  In 
the  enforced  seclusion  of  the  long  sea  voyage  of  four 
months,  he  had  plenty  of  time  for  thorough  study  of  the 
New  Testament  and  the  doctrinal  position  of  the  Baptists. 
The  result  of  his  searching  study  and  constant  prayer 
was  the  conclusion  reluctantly  formed  that  he  was  wrong 
and  the  Baptists  were  right.  It  was  only  after  a  great 
struggle  that  Judson  yielded  and  became  a  Baptist.  Upon 
landing  in  Calcutta,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  were  baptized 
by  Rev,  William  Ward ;  and  on  the  first  of  November,  two 
months  later,  Rev.  Luther  Rice,  another  of  the  group  of 
pioneer  missionaries,  who,  though  sailing  on  a  different 
vessel,  had.  experienced  a  similar  change  of  conviction 
and  had  become  a  Baptist,  was  likewise  baptized  in  Cal- 
cutta upon  his  arrival. 

The  call  of  Judson  and  Rice  to  the  Baptists  of  America, 
at  that  time  disorganized,  scattered,  despised,  came  as  an 
inspiring  challenge  to  a  great  divine  task,  and  from  that 
hour  the  movement  began  which  made  of  the  Baptists 
one  of  the  great  Christian  forces  of  the  world. 

India  was  ruled  at  that  time  by  the  East  India  Com- 
pany which  was  opposed  to  missionaries.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Judson  were  peremptorily  told  by  the  ofificials  at  Cal- 
cutta that  thev  must  return  at  once  to  America.  But 
America  held  no  charm  for  these  enthusiastic  young 
missionaries.  Under  cover  of  night  they  embarked  on  a 
ship  sailing  for  the  Isle  of  France,  and  from  there  sailed 
for  Madras.  Their  arrival  was  at  once  reported  to  the 
company,  and  they  feared  they  would  be  transported  to 
England.     There  was  a  vessel  in  the  harbor  bound  for 


ADONIRAM  JUDSON 
Baptist  Pioneer  in  Burma 


Burma :  Pioneering  in  Faith  27 

Rangoon,  Burma.  Burma  was  at  that  time  an  indepen- 
dent nation  under  a  cruel  Burman  king.  God's  providence 
had  hemmed  them  into  this  one  opening.  Subsequent 
history  has  proved  that  the  Hand  which  led  them  so 
strangely  and  sternly,  yet  lovingly,  was  the  Hand  which 
never  leads  astray.  American  Baptists,  in  their  assault 
on  non-Christian  Asia,  could  not  have  chosen  a  more 
strategic  position  than  Rangoon.  Here  for  four  years, 
without  apparent  results,  in  the  midst  of  almost  inde- 
scribable hardships,  persecution,  discouragement,  and  suf- 
fering, the  missionaries  continued  to  work,  preaching  to 
such  as  could  be  gathered  in  secret,  writing  tracts,  and 
translating  the  New  Testament.  At  last,  on  May  7,  1817, 
they  had  their  first  serious  inquirer,  and  two  years  later, 
on  June  27,  1819,  six  years  after  their  arrival  in  Burma, 
Judson  baptized  his  first  convert. 

Burma,  although  at  present  politically  a  province  of  the 
Indian  Empire,  is  as  different  from  India  proper  as  it  is 
from  China.  The  Burman  is  Mongolian ;  the  Indian, 
Aryan.  Burma  is  Buddhist,  India  is  Hindu  and  Moham- 
medan. In  India,  everything  is  dominated  and  held  in 
the  iron  grip  of  caste.  In  Burma  there  is  no  caste. 
In  India  the  Hindu  and  Mohammedan  women  are  secluded 
in  the  zenanas  and  purdah.  In  Burma  the  women  are  free 
and  happy.  India  is  overpopulated  and  poor.  In  Burma 
there  are  vast  empty  spaces  and  undeveloped  resources. 
Burma  has  by  far  the  highest  standard  of  literacy  in  the 
Indian  Empire,  and  until  very  recently  has  been  wholly 
untouched  by  the  seditious  movements  that  have  been 
so  prominent  in  India  since  1910. 

Burma  has  an  area  of  more  than  230,000  square  miles ; 
the  province  is  girt  about  and  isolated,  separated  from 
China,  Siam,  and  India  by  broad  barriers  of  almost  path- 
less mountains   on  her   northern,   eastern,   and  western 


28  Following  the  Pioneers 

frontiers,  and  on  the  south  and  southwest  her  shores 
are  washed  by  the  Bay  of  Bengal.  Her  mountain  ranges 
running  north  and  south  are  the  outstretched  fingers  of 
the  Himalayas.  Three  mighty  rivers,  the  Irrawaddy, 
the  Chidwin,  and  the  Salween,  flow  through  the  valleys 
enriching  the  land  and  providing  natural  arteries  for 
transportation  and  trade.  Burma  is  the  richest  Province 
of  the  Indian  Empire  with  abundant  natural  resources. 
Her  plains  produced  in  1921  seven  million  tons  of  rice 
and  great  quantities  of  cotton,  peanuts,  maize,  and  beans. 
Burma  has  wonderful  forests.  There  are  thirty  thousand 
acres  of  forest  in  government  reserve.  The  world's  supply 
of  teak  comes  from  Burma.  Teak,  on  account  of  its  dura- 
bility, strength,  and  slight  expansion  and  contraction,  is 
very  useful  in  ship-building.  There  are  sixty  thousand 
acres  under  rubber  cultivation  in  the  province,  and  hidden 
away  in  her  mountains  are  tin,  lead,  silver,  and  zinc. 
From  Burma  comes  the  wolfram  supply  of  the  world. 
The  most  famous  ruby  mines  in  the  world  are  here. 
Jade  and  amber  are  also  found  in  abundance.  Two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  million  gallons  of  petroleum  were 
produced  in  Burma  in  1921.  The  Burman  rivers  are 
teeming  with  fish,  and  in  her  forests  and  hills  are  tigers, 
bears,  deer,  wild  boar,  and  other  animals,  with  peacocks 
and  beautiful  birds  of  all  descriptions  in  her  valleys  and 
mountains.  Nature  has  been  open-handed  and  bountiful 
to  Burma.  One  of  Burma's  own  sons  has  thus  written 
of  this  wonderfully  beautiful  country : 

With  the  Burmese,  the  sentiment  of  nationality  has  always  been 
a  living  thing.  This  feeling  permeates  and  dominates  their  his- 
tory as  the  Irrawaddy  dominates  the  land  in  which  they  dwell. 
From  the  conquest  of  the  Takings  by  the  Burmans  (A.  D.  1755) 
until  the  advent  of  the  British,  the  country  was  ruled  by  the 
Burmese    kings    sufficiently    long    to    establish    a    strong   national 


Burma :  Pioneering  in  Faith  29 

tradition.  This  tradition,  combined  with  the  common  Buddhist 
reHgion,  common  customs,  and  a  common  social  framework,  has 
developed  a  strong  feeling  of  nationality.  Man  has  completed 
what  Nature  began.  Here  in  this  giant  horseshoe  of  mountains 
Nature  said :  "  Behold  my  cradle  for  a  nation !  The  Burmese 
are  that  predestined  nation." 

Rangoon,  with  more  than  300,000  people,  is  the  capital 
of  the  Province.  The  Prince  of  Wales  in  his  visit  to 
Burma  in  1922  thus  responded  to  the  wonderful  welcome 
given  to  him  by  the  people  of  Burma's  principal  city: 

I  thank  you  very  warmly  for  the  address  of  welcome  which 
you  have  presented  to  me.  The  name  which  your  city  bears,  "  the 
city  of  peace,"  or  more  literally,  "  the  end  of  war,"  is  an  appro- 
priate testimony  of  what  Pax  Britannica  has  done  for  Burma  and 
Rangoon.  No  more  romantic  page  in  the  annals  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Empire  can  be  found  than  the  history  of  the  growth 
of  a  small  town  of  thatched  huts,  which  passed  under  British 
occupation  in  1852,  into  this  vast  metropolis  and  prosperous  port 
of  today.  Where  yesterday  wilderness,  mud,  labyrinths,  and  hovels 
met  the  eye,  the  fair  capital  of  the  richest  province  of  the  Empire 
today  lifts  up  her  proud  head.  Here  railways  and  crafts  of  the 
two  great  river  valleys  of  Burma  deliver  up  the  spoils  of  your 
mines,  your  oil-fields,  your  rice  plantations,  and  your  forests  to 
factories  and  docks  of  this  city.  The  shipping  of  all  lands  seeks 
your  port  to  carry  your  product  to  the  four  corners  of  the  world. 

There  is  romance  too  in  the  many  nationalities  which  throng 
your  streets  and  docks  at  the  first  sight.  Amidst  the  multiplicity 
of  creeds  and  tongues  of  your  citizens  the  only  common  tie  would 
seem  to  be  the  bond  of  adherence  to  the  British  Empire,  under 
whose  protection  they  live  and  prosper.  In  spite  of  such  diver- 
sity of  elements,  your  city  is  essentially  a  part  and  parcel  of 
Burma,  and  in  a  true  sense  the  capital  of  Burma,  for  in  your 
midst  stands  the  great  pagoda,  the  oldest  of  all  holy  places  of 
religion,  claiming  a  larger  proportion  of  followers  among  the 
human  race  than  any  other,  and  this  building  is  the  supreme 
expression  of  the  genius  of  the  Burmese  people.  The  fortunes 
of  your  city  are  entirely  bound  up  with  those  of  the  province, 
for,  as  the  main  outlet  for  the  riches  of  Burma,  on  her  growing 
prosperity  and  welfare  rests  your  increasing  strength. 


30  Following  the  Pioneers 

The  Burmans  number  nine  millions  of  the  thirteen 
million  people  of  the  province.  There  are  many  lan- 
guages and  dialects  spoken  among  the  various  peoples 
of  Burma,  and  no  one  language  would  be  understood 
by  all  the  people,  but  the  Burmese  language  is  the  lingua 
franca  of  the  country.  This  language,  while  difficult  to 
most,  especially  in  its  literary  and  religious  forms,  is  rich 
in  variety  and  expression  and  has  a  large  and  important 
literature,  mostly  Buddhist. 

The  Burmese,  from  a  missionary  standpoint,  is  the 
most  important  race  group  in  Burma,  although  the  least 
responsive  thus  far  to  the  efforts  to  win  them  to  Chris- 
tianity. We  must  win  the  Burmese  if  we  are  to  win 
Burma  for  Christ. 

Buddhism  is  the  religion  of  the  Burman.  Buddhism 
has  a  large  and  rich  literature ;  numbers  its  "  priests  of 
the  yellow  robe  "  by  thousands ;  has  built  pagodas  and 
monasteries  in  all  parts  of  the  Province,  and  is  a  re- 
ligion of  noble,  ethical  precepts  that,  mixed  as  it  is  with 
animism  and  nat-worship,  has  a  tremendous  hold  upon 
the  Burmese  and  Shan  people. 

Dr.  J.  N.  Cushing,  who  was  for  forty  years  a  mission- 
ary in  Burma  and  was  most  sympathetic  toward  Bud- 
dhism, in  his  book,  "  Christ  and  Buddha,"  says : 

Buddhism  stands  before  us  with  Gotama,  a  pure,  noble,  true 
man,  as  its  founder,  and  the  teacher  of  the  highest  system  of 
morality  outside  the  Christian  Scriptures.  Yet,  when  we  touch 
the  soul's  deep  needs,  its  craving  for  deliverance  from  the  power 
and  the  results  of  sin,  its  longing  for  an  omnipotent  Deliverer 
by  whose  assistance  it  may  reach  a  sinless,  happy  state,  we  find  in 
Gotama  no  answering  divine  voice  that  speaks  relief.  The  voice 
is  the  voice  of  a  man,  thoughtful  indeed  and  versed  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  human  hfeart,  but  still  the  voice  of  only  a  man,  offering 
a  cold  and  dreary  philosophy  of  life,  which  in  its  course  and 
result  cuts  athwart  all  the  intuitions  and  aspirations  of  a  human 


Burma :  Pioneering  in  Faith  31 

soul.  He  honestly  sought  to  solve  the  problem  of  human  suffer- 
ing and  escape  from  it.  But  a  fountain  cannot  rise  above  its 
source,  and  the  system  of  Gotama  is  only  human  and  inadequate 
to  its  object.  Turning  to  Christianity,  we  hear  a  divine  voice  that 
responds  to  every  human  need,  telling  of  deliverance  from  sin 
through  a  loving,  omnipotent  Saviour  and  of  the  eternal  life  of 
heaven.  Here  is  a  salvation  complete  in  itself,  according  with 
every  want  of  man.  Therefore,  turning  from  the  "  Light  of 
Asia"  to  the  "Light  of  the  World,"  wt  accept  as  truth  his 
declaration,  "  I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life." 

There  are  257,107  Christians  of  all  denominations  in 
Burma,  but  only  15,381  of  these  Christians  are  Burmans. 
The  Burmese  work,  while  most  difficult,  is  more  hopeful 
today  than  it  has  been  since  the  time  of  Judson,  for  the 
Burmese,  especially  those  in  the  country  districts,  are  more 
open  and  responsive  to  the  gospel  now  than  they  have  ever 
been  before.  We  have  mission  stations  for  Burmese  work 
at  Tavoy,  IMoulmein,  Rangoon,  Bassein,  Prome,  Man- 
dalay,  Myingyan,  Maymyo,  Pegu,  Pyapon,  Sagaing, 
Toungoo,  Thonze,  Pyinmana,  Henzada,  Meiktila,  and 
Bhamo.  In  addition  to  the  missionaries,  the  churches, 
schools,  and  other  institutions  in  these  towns,  working 
directly  for  the  Burmese,  there  are  many  Burmese 
churches  in  other  towns  and  villages  under  the  super- 
vision of  Burmese  teachers  and  preachers.  The  1921 
census  report  places  the  number  of  Burmese  Baptists  at 
7,265.  Concerning  the  progress  of  Christianity  in  Burma 
Rev.  C.  E.  Chaney  says : 

One  thing  is  certain,  the  numerical  strength  is  a  forceful  testi- 
mony, after  a  hundred  years  of  effort,  to  the  difficulty  of  the  task 
to  evangelize  Burma,  for  Burma  is  chiefly  Burmese.  He  would  be 
faint-hearted  and  short-sighted,  however,  who  was  not  optimistic 
in  spite  of  comparatively  small  numbers,  for  these  numbers  do  not 
tell  the  whole  story  or  gage  correctly  the  real  situation.  What 
of  the  larger  constituency  back  of  this  membership?     What  of 


32  Following  the  Pioneers 

the  solid  foundation  that  has  been  so  well  laid  and  the  organized 
work  for  undertaking  the  larger  task?  What  of  the  large  num- 
ber of  boys  and  girls  that  have  been  in  our  Baptist  Christian 
schools  and  are  distinctly  sympathetic  to  Christians,  although 
they  have  not  been  able  as  yet  to  make  the  break  from  Buddhism 
to  Christianity?  In  the  new  day  that  is  dawning  in  Burma, 
Christian  leadership  will  have  a  large  part,  and  Buddhists  will 
feel  less  and  less  the  restraint  of  social  ostracism,  because  if  they 
leave  one  social  group,  it  will  be  to  be  received  in  another 
which  stands  high  in  intelligence  and  respect.  The  day  of  the 
great  break  in  our  Burmese  work  is  drawing  near.  The  educated 
and  Burmese  leaders  will  yet  welcome  their  emancipation  from 
the  impossible  position  of  knowing  that  Buddhist  cosmography  is 
a  figment  of  the  imagination  and  yet  having  to  bow  to  and  con- 
firm it  under  the  cloak  of  religion.  The  same  is  true  in  the  realm 
of  ethics  and  morals.  Our  day  has  been  long  delayed,  but  it  is 
at  hand,  even  at  the  door. 

The  following  items  from  the  Burma  Baptist  Conven- 
tion report  of  1921  give  an  idea  of  the  bigness  and  impor- 
tance of  the  Burmese  work : 

Number  of  Mission  Stations   16 

"         "    Associations    5 

"         "    Churches    50 

"         "    Ordained  preachers    30 

"         "    Unordained  preachers    57 

"         "    Bible-women  20 

"         "    Baptisms  during  the  year  790 

"    Church -members    5044 

"        "    Sunday  schools    100 

"        Enrolled  in  Sunday  schools   4881 

"        of  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  11 

"        Enrolled  in  Christian  Endeavor  Societies   539 

"        of  Normal   Schools    3 

"         "    Anglo-vernacular  Schools  for  Boys   15 

"         "    Anglo-vernacular  Schools  for  Girls   11 

"        "    High  Schools  for  Boys   ^ 

"         "    High  Schools  for  Girls    3 

"    Colleges    1 

"         "    Bible  Schools  for  Women   1 

"         "    Theological  Seminaries   1 

Total  Contributions  of  the  Churches  for  the  Year Rs.  38,713 


Burma :  Pioneering  in  Faith  33 

These  five  Burmese  Baptist  Associations  are  organized 
into  the  Burmese  Baptist  Conference.  This  Burmese 
Baptist  Conference  has  an  independent  work  of  its  own 
and  supports  evangehstic  and  school  work  in  Magee 
and  is  entirely  responsible  for  all  the  work  in  half  of  the 
great  Myingyan  field.  The  Burmese  churches  are  further 
organized  together  with  the  Karen  churches  and  the 
churches  of  the  other  races  in  Burma  in  the  Burma  Bap- 
tist Convention.  The  annual  meeting  of  this  Convention 
is  one  of  the  outstanding  Baptist  gatherings  of  the  world. 
At  the  session  at  which  I  was  present  in  October,  1921, 
there  were  2,300  registered  delegates.  In  1920,  the 
president  of  the  Convention  was  Saya  Ah  Syoo,  the  pastor 
of  the  Moulmein  Burman  Baptist  Church.  The  president 
in  1921  was  Saya  Ba  Te,  one  of  the  eminent  Christian 
leaders  of  Burma.  The  president  for  the  current  year  is 
Saya  Toe  Khut,  the  head  master  of  the  Alaubin  Pwo 
Karen  School.  The  Convention  is  entirely  independent 
and  self-supporting.  It  has  invested  funds  of  Rs.  84,500, 
and  the  income  last  year  was  Rs.  16,937.  With  this 
money  the  Convention  supports,  in  whole  or  in  part,  evan- 
gelists in  fifteen  fields,  and  in  addition  the  churches  sup- 
port the  All-Burma  Baptist  Orphanage  at  Lloulmein. 
There  are  eighty  children  in  the  orphanage,  and  the 
budget  is  Rs.  6,515. 

Everywhere  there  is  manifested  in  Burma  a  spirit  of 
aggressive  evangelism  on  the  part  of  the  Burmese  mis- 
sionaries and  the  Burmese  pastors  and  teachers.  These 
leaders  all  recognize  that  now  is  the  time  of  times  to 
stress  evangelism.  In  the  heart  of  Rangoon  stands  the 
Laumadaw  church  building  with  its  strong  self-support- 
ing church,  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  church  established 
by  Judson  more  than  a  century  ago.  The  pastor  of  this 
church  is  Saya  Yaw  Ba,  a  man  of  marked  ability  who 


34  Following  the  Pioneers 

was  formerly  in  Government  service,  later  head  master 
of  the  Burmese  High  School  at  Henzada.  He  left  a 
position  paying  Rs.  130  a  month  to  become  pastor  of 
this  church  at  Rs.  80  a  month.  At  Sagaing  just  across 
the  river  from  Ava,  the  scene  of  Judson's  first  imprison- 
ment, Dr.  S.  R.  McCurdy  is  carrying  on  an  intensive 
evangelistic  campaign  in  the  river  district  with  its  hun- 
dreds of  Burmese  villages.     Doctor  McCurdy  reports : 

We  have  reached  villages  eighty  miles  up  the  river  and  have 
covered  five  distinct  areas  in  the  immediate  Sagaing  district.  So 
far  we  have  reached  about  300  different  villages.  By  day  we  use 
large,  colored  pictures  of  the  life  of  Christ.  At  night  we  use 
the  stereopticon  with  great  success.  We  have  sold  between 
four  and  five  thousand  Scripture  portions,  telling  the  people  that 
they  will  find  in  the  book  a  more  complete  account  of  what  the 
preachers  have  said. 

From  far  Tavoy  in  the  South  to  Bhamo  in  the  North,  the 
gospel  is  being  preached  to  the  proud  Burmese,  and  men, 
women,  and  children  of  this  dominant  race  are  being  won 
to  the  Christian  faith. 

Burma  is  one  of  the  most  literate  provinces  in  the 
Indian  empire.  There  is  a  Buddhist  literature,  both  in 
Burmese  and  Pali.  The  Buddhist  monks  in  their  monas- 
teries conduct  schools  for  boys  and  carry  them  through 
the  lower  standards.  In  addition,  the  Young  Men's  Bud- 
dhist Association  has  several  Buddhist  schools  of  the 
higher  standards  and  several  high  schools  for  boys,  but 
none  for  girls.  A  comprehensive  study  of  what  Baptists 
are  doing  in  Burma  today  could  not  fail  to  reveal  the 
scope  and  Christian  influence  of  our  educational  system  as 
one  of  the  chief  glories  of  our  work  in  the  Province.  We 
have  a  total  of  732  schools  of  all  grades  and  an  enrolment 
of  thirty  thousand  pupils.  We  have  high  schools  for  the 
Karens  at  Bassein,  Tharrawaddy,  and  Rangoon,  and  nine 


Burma :  Pioneering  in  Faith  35 

high  schools  for  Burmans,  one  for  girls  and  one  for 
boys  at  Aloulmein,  one  for  girls  and  one  for  boys  at 
Rangoon,  one  for  girls  and  one  for  boys  at  ]\Iandalay, 
and  one  high  school  each  at  Pyinmana,  Myingyan,  and 
Henzada.  The  Burmese  high  schools  for  girls  of  the 
Woman's  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society  at 
Morton  Lane,  Kemendine,  and  ]Mandalay  are  schools  that 
are  an  honor  to  the  Society  and  to  the  denomination.  As 
I  visited  Alorton  Lane  School  at  ]\Ioulmein  and  the  girls' 
high  school  at  Mandalay  and  was  present  at  the  gradua- 
tion exercises  at  Kemendine,  I  was  impressed  that  in 
these  girls'  schools  we  have  one  of  the  greatest  forces 
for  leavening  and  elevating  the  home  and  individual  life 
of  Burma.  These  schools  were  established  to  give  the 
girls  of  Burma  high-  and  normal-school  advantages  equal 
to  those  of  any  country;  and  to  teach  them  the  highest 
ethical  standards  and  prepare  them  for  lives  of  usefulness 
as  home-makers,  or  in  the  professions,  and  above  all  to 
acquaint  them  during  these  happy  days  at  school  in  the 
most  personal  way  with  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord  and  Saviour. 
Morton  Lane  was  founded  in  1867,  and  is  the  oldest 
Burmese  school  for  girls  in  Burma.  Its  history  is  one 
of  unbroken  success  for  more  than  half  a  century.  With 
its  well-planned  buildings,  its  staff  of  twenty-six  devoted 
teachers,  and  its  400  bright  Burmese  girls,  Morton  Lane  is 
one  of  the  outstanding  institutions  of  Asia.  Kemendine, 
in  Rangoon,  was  founded  in  1871,  and  it  was  my  privi- 
lege to  have  a  part  in  the  jubilee  celebration  of  this 
school  in  1921,  at  which  time  the  corner-stone  of  the  beau- 
tiful new  building,  Bennett  Hall,  was  laid.  There  are 
three  hundred  girls  in  attendance  at  this  school.  A 
strong  Christian  spirit  pervades  the  school,  and  there 
are  baptisms  every  year,  and  many  more  would  be  bap- 
tized if  permission  could  be  secured  from  their  Buddhist 


36  Following  the  Pioneers 

parents.  The  teachers  and  girls  carry  on  five  outside 
Sunday  schools  with  an  attendance  of  240  children.  The 
Mandalay  girls'  school  with  250  girls  has  a  powerful  and 
continually  widening  influence  in  Northern  Burma.  At 
the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  for  the  new  kindergarten 
building  in  April,  1921,  I  met  one  of  the  graduates,  Ma 
Mhi,  who  also  received  a  degree  from  Judson  College  and 
has  taught  twelve  years  in  the  Government  normal  school. 
Ma  Mhi  received  a  silver  medal  from  the  Government 
in  recognition  of  her  devoted  services,  and  has  now  been 
sent  by  the  Department  of  Education  to  Maymyo  for  a 
year  of  special  study  in  kindergarten  work,  to  qualify 
her  to  bring  out  the  books  for  kindergarten  work  in 
Burmese  for  the  entire  Province. 

In  the  foreground  of  our  educational  work  in  Burma 
is  Judson  College,  the  one  Christian  college  of  Burma.  It 
was  established  in  1872  as  Rangoon  Baptist  College,  by 
Rev.  J.  G.  Binney,  D.  D.,  and  in  June,  1909,  was  affiliated 
with  Calcutta  University  as  a  full  first-grade  college, 
qualified  to  present  candidates  for  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts.  Today  it  occupies  a  large  and  influential  place  in 
the  educational  life  of  Burma.  Its  success  has  been  made 
possible  through  the  realization  that  true  education  is 
Christian  education  and  can  be  imparted  only  by  Chris- 
tians of  the  highest  ideals.  For  the  last  few  years  the 
College  has  been  greatly  handicapped  because  of  limited 
accommodations.  In  December,  1920,  a  New  Burma  Uni- 
versity was  established  by  the  Government.  This  uni- 
versity is.  to  be  composed  of  the  two  constituent  colleges 
which  were  formerly  affiliated  with  Calcutta  Univer- 
sity: that  is,  Rangoon  College  and  Judson  College.  The 
former  is  a  Government  institution  and  is  compelled  by 
law  to  be  neutral  in  religious  matters.  The  other  is  the 
only  Christian  college  in  the  Province.    The  Government 


Burma :  Pioneering  in  Faith  37 

proposes  to  admit  both  institutions  as  constituent  col- 
leges of  the  new  Burma  University  and  to  give  them 
equal  rights  and  privileges.  The  Baptist  college  is  to 
have  proportional  representation  on  the  governing  body 
of  the  university  and  the  control  of  its  own  property  and 
policies.  Its  aims  and  methods  as  a  distinctively  Chris- 
tian institution  are  to  be  fully  safeguarded,  and  are  guar- 
anteed by  its  new  constitution. 

The  new  plan  contemplates  the  establishment  of  the 
university  on  the  site  outside  the  limits  of  the  city  of 
Rangoon,  where  sufficient  land  can  be  obtained  to  pro- 
vide tor  the  buildings  and  grounds.  The  Government 
will  acquire  the  land  and  will  give  to  Judson  College  as 
much  as  is  needed  for  college  purposes  and  for  the 
residences  of  the  professors.  One-half  the  cost  of  the 
buildings  which  the  college  must  erect,  including  the 
residences  of  the  professors,  will  be  provided,  as  well  as 
substantial  aid  toward  equipment  and  maintenance.  If 
Baptists  are  to  profit  by  this  generosity  they  must  be 
ready  to  do  their  share  in  building  and  equipping  the 
new  college.  Judson  College  has  a  faculty  of  twenty- 
two  men  and  women.  This  faculty  is  young,  enthusiastic, 
well  trained,  thoroughly  Christian,  and  devoted  to  their 
work.  Four  have  their  degrees  from  Harvard,  three 
from  Chicago,  one  from  Yale,  one  from  Colgate,  one 
from  Denison,  one  from  McMaster,  one  from  Rochester, 
one  from  Ohio  State,  seven  from  Calcutta,  one  from 
Madras,  and  one  from  Rangoon.  There  are  138  students 
in  the  college,  thirty-two  of  whom  are  women.  Thirty- 
seven  students  are  working  their  way  through  college. 
The  college  assembles  twice  a  week  for  chapel  services, 
and  on  other  days  the  classes  meet  separately  for  Bible 
study  as  a  part  of  the  curriculum,  and  Sunday  morning 
there  is  a  service  in  English  which  all  the  boarders  at- 


38  Following  the  Pioneers 

tend.  The  college  church,  composed  of  students  and 
teachers  of  Judson  College,  Gushing  High  School,  and 
the  Normal  School,  maintains  a  strong  organization  with 
a  Bible  school  and  separate  Burmese  and  Karen  church 
services  in  the  evening  and  the  midweek  college  prayer- 
meeting.  There  is  a  brotherhood  with  its  regular  Bible 
study  courses  and  services  of  friendship  in  different  parts 
of  the  city.  The  college  church  contributed  Rs.  900  last 
year  for  the  support  of  one  of  their  own  graduates  who 
is  working  as  a  missionary  in  the  Inlay  Lake  District. 
Rev.  H.  E.  Safford,  who  was  pastor  of  the  college  church, 
reports  the  following  as  a  result  of  the  Christian  influence 
and  missionary  service  of  this  college  church  : 

In  February,  1921,  a  young  carpenter,  employed  in  making 
furniture  for  Mr.  Hattersley's  new  hostel,  was  accepted  for  bap- 
tism after  giving  evidence  of  unusual  grasp  of  Bible  truth.  He 
had  been  a  lay  preacher  of  the  Karen  Klee-bo-pah  heresy,  but 
on  becoming  a  boarder  in  Thra  Po  Gyaw's  family,  while  at  work 
in  our  midst,  he  joined  in  the  family  prayer  circle,  and  thus  came 
to  a  true  conception  of  Christ's  deity.  After  returning  to  his 
village,  Leain-zut,  he  wrote  occasionally  of  converts  being  won 
among  relatives  and  neighbors.  Exactly  a  year  after  his  own 
baptism  he  returned  with  four  desiring  to  make  like  confession. 
The  Sunday  following  I  was  fortunately  able  to  secure  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Seagrave  to  accompany  our  Karen  deacons  and  others  in 
visiting  this  village,  where  I  baptized  twelve,  including  several 
in  middle  life,  and  again  a  fortnight  later  we  all  went,  and  I 
baptized  sixteen,  among  these  a  man  of  eighty,  his  wife  only  ten 
years  younger,  and  ten  of  their  descendants.  The  villagers  con- 
ceived a  preference  for  receiving  the  rite  at  the  hands  of  the 
college  pastor  who  had  baptized  their  carpenter  leader. 

A  church  has  now  been  organized  with  thirty-three  members, 
and  others  are  expected  to  join  shortly  by  baptism  and  letter. 
The  first  deacon  chosen  is  a  young  woman  of  unusual  ability 
though  never  enjoying  extensive  school  privileges. 

The  success  of  a  mission  is  measured  in  part  at  least 
by  the  extent  to  which  self-supporting  churches  have  been 


Burma ;  Pioneering  in  Faith  39 

established  and  the  control  of  the  work  given  into  the 
hands  of  the  indigenous  people.  Substantial  progress 
has  been  made  in  all  our  missions  in  self-support  and  in- 
dependence. The  future  of  the  Burmese  work  depends 
in  a  large  measure  upon  the  leadership  of  the  churches. 
To  prepare  these  leaders  we  have  a  strong  theological 
seminary  for  the  training  of  a  Burmese  minister.  On 
a  hill  at  Insein,  on  the  same  compound  with  the  Karen 
Theological  Seminary,  is  located  the  Burmese  Theological 
Seminary  with  an  enrolment  of  forty-four  men.  The 
graduating  class  this  year  numbered  nineteen.  Six  of 
these  men  served  as  soldiers  in  the  great  war,  and  this 
experience,  together  with  the  careful,  thorough  training 
they  have  received  in  the  Seminary,  will  make  them,  we 
believe,  most  efficient  leaders  of  the  church  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  Burma.  The  Seminary  is  supported  liberally 
by  the  members  of  the  Burmese  churches.  A  new  dormi- 
tory, to  cost  $5,000,  is  urgently  needed.  The  Burmese 
Christians  have  already  subscribed  nearly  $2,000,  and  it 
is  hoped  that  our  Society  will  soon  be  able  to  make  an 
appropriation  for  this  building,  thus  equipping  this  Semi- 
nary for  a  place  of  large  importance  in  our  Baptist  work 
in  Burma. 

There  are  fifty  thousand  villages  and  hamlets  in  Burma. 
Most  of  the  people  live  in  the  country;  eighty  per  cent, 
are  engaged  in  agriculture.  Most  of  our  Baptist  churches 
are  rural  churches.  The  land  is  fertile  and  the  rainfall 
abundant,  but  the  average  income  of  the  farming  people 
is  only  a  few  cents  a  day.  A  missionary  Society  that 
holds  as  important  a  place  in  the  life  and  progress  of 
Burma  as  we  do,  must  not  be  blind  to  the  rural  prob- 
lem. Our  answer  to  this  problem  is  the  Pyinmana 
Agricultural  School,  whose  objective  is  thus  described 
by  Rev.  Brayton  C.  Case,  a  missionary  and  the  son  of 


40  Following  the  Pioneers 

a  missionary  who  is  the  founder  and  first  principal  of 
the  school : 

The  Pyinmana  School  of  Agriculture,  being  of  a  type  similar 
to  Hampton  and  Tuskegee,  will  take  the  boys  who  have  passed 
only  the  village  primary  school  and  are  fourteen  years  of  age, 
and  give  them  four-years'  training  in  scientific  agriculture.  Half 
the  time  will  be  given  to  practical  work  in  the  field  and  shop,  to 
train  the  boys  in  habits  of  industry,  and  to  teach  them  how  to  go 
back  to  their  villages  and,  by  using  the  help  available  from  the 
great  wide  world,  transform  their  village  life.  We  will  teach 
them  how  to  use  the  plows,  harrows,  cultivators,  seed-drills,  mow- 
ing-machines, grain  binders,  threshing-machines,  tractors,  and  irri- 
gation-pumps with  which  we  have  learned  to  unlock  the  store- 
houses under  our  feet,  and  they  will  likewise  unlock  the  storehouses 
under  their  feet.  We  will  teach  them  to  grow  pure  seed  giving 
twice  the  yield  for  the  same  effort,  to  get  all  the  available 
iugar  out  of  the  cane  instead  of  half  of  it,  to  raise  a  cow 
giving  more  than  two  quarts  of  milk  a  day  and  a  pig  that  weighs 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  in  three  years.  But  in 
addition  to  this,  we  will  produce  Christian  men  to  whom  the 
people  of  Burma  will  look  and  say :  "  I  wish  I  could  be  a  man 
like  that.  I  wish  my  son  could  do  what  he  can.  I  wish  I  had  a 
God  that  blessed  his  people  like  that." 

The  American  Baptist  Mission  Press  at  Rangoon  not 
only  serves  the  entire  Burma  Mission  and  all  the  races 
of  Burma,  but  with  its  fine  building  and  three  hundred 
employees,  it  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  solid  and  most 
progressive  business  institutions  in  the  city  of  Rangoon. 
The  Mission  report  for  the  year  1922  thus  sums  up  the 
work  of  the  Press : 

The  Mission  Press  through  more  than  a  century  has  maintained 
its  place  of  leadership  by  the  production  of  new  faces  of  ver- 
nacular type,  many  of  them  "  made  on  the  premises,"  and  others 
made  by  the  latest  methods  known  to  American  type-founders, 
but  to  designs  and  plans  sent  from  the  Press.  The  latest  addition 
to  our  printing  capacities,  placing  us  a  second  long  step  ahead  of 
all   competitors,   is   the    installation   of   two   fine   linotypes   to    set 


Burma :  Pioneering  in  Faith  41 

Sgaw  Karen.  We  now  have  two  linotypes  setting  Burmese  in 
the  Burmese  character,  and  these  two  others  setting  Sgaw  Karen 
in  the  character  given  by  our  missionaries  three  generations  ago 
to  that  people.  Plans  have  already  gone  home  looking  to  the 
conversion  at  will  of  these  two  Sgaw  Karen  machines  into  Pwo 
Karen  machines.  In  this  respect  we  lead  all  other  printers  in 
India,  for  none  of  them  has  ever  adapted  any  of  the  modern  com- 
posing machines  to  the  vernacular  type  used  in  any  of  the  languages 
of  India. 

Note  the  polyglot  list  of  publications  entered  during  the  year 
in  the  various  languages  in  which  we  regularly  work.  The  number 
of  titles,  by  language,  is  as  follows  :  Burmese,  24;  Sgaw  Karen,  11 ; 
Pwo  Karen,  4;  Shan,  4;  Kachin,  3;  Talain  (Old  Testament  por- 
tions), 20;  Chin,  2;  English,  7;  Anglo-vernacular,  4;  Polyglot 
(three  languages), 1 ;  Lisu  (for  use  in  China),  1.  A  total  of  81 
titles. 

But  let  some  of  the  items  be  gathered  together  in  another  way. 
We  find  80,000  New  Testament  portions  in  Burmese ;  2,725  whole 
Bibles  in  Sgaw  Karen,  in  three  editions,  one  being  with  references 
and  one  of  those  without  references  for  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society ;  2,000  Pwo  Karen  New  Testaments ;  10,000  Gospels 
in  Shan  for  the  Bible  Society;  20,000  Old  Testament  portions  in 
Talain ;  and  a  beginning  made  in  setting  and  stereotyping  a  pocket 
edition  of  the  New  Testament  in  Kachin. 

Next  to  the  Bible  our  people  appreciate  their  hymn-books,  and 
the  latest  demand  is  for  hymn-and-tune  books.  We  have  had  a 
Sgaw  Karen  hymn-and-tune  book  for  several  years  past,  and  now 
we  are  working  on  a  similar  book  for  the  Burmans,  another  for 
the  Pwo  Karens,  and  still  another — a  C.  E.  hymn-book — for  the 
Sgaw  Karens,  and  with  two  other  such  books  in  prospect  for 
the  near  future.  These  represent  many  months  of  painstaking 
labor  for  each  missionary  editor. 

The  rest  of  the  publications  noted  in  our  table  above  are  either 
educational  or  of  a  general  religious  character  in  the  main.  But 
mention  should  be  made  of  nearly  a  score  of  periodicals  printed 
at  the  Press  in  five  languages,  and  not  included  in  the  above  table, 
a  mass  of  enlightenment  in  itself  almost  sufficient  to  justify  the 
existence  of  the  Press.  Particular  mention  should  be  made  of 
our  three  International  Sunday  School  Lesson  Helps  in  three 
languages,  with  three  missionary  editors,  of  which  we  issue  about 
22.000  monthly. 


42  Following  the  Pioneers 

The  missionary  movement  in  the  final  analysis  must  be 
judged  by  the  type  of  manhood  and  womanhood  it  pro- 
duces. There  is  a  qualitative  as  well  as  a.  quantitative  test : 
we  weigh  as  well  as  count.  Burmese  leaders  are  coming 
to  the  front  who  will,  in  the  future,  assume  large  respon- 
sibility in  their  own  land.  American  Baptists  should  be 
introduced  to  a  few  of  these  men  and  women.  U  We  Lin, 
a  layman,  a  college  graduate,  a  government  inspector  of 
schools  for  the  Irrawaddy  Division,  honored  by  the  gov- 
ernment for  his  service,  a  recipient  of  the  Kaisar-i-Hind 
Medal,  is  a  stalwart  Christian  and  a  loyal  member  of  the 
Bassein  Burmese  Baptist  church.  Saya  Ba  Hlaing,  a  grad- 
uate of  Judson  Boys'  High  School,  Moulmein,  and  of 
Judson  College,  is  now  holding  a  missionary's  place  as 
Superintendent  of  Judson  Boys'  High  School  in  Moul- 
mein, is  a  man  of  sterling  qualities,  and  is  held  in  high 
esteem  by  all  communities  and  races.  Saya  Ba  Hlaing 
has  recently  been  appointed  by  the  Government  to  the 
high  school  advisory  board  which  controls  the  entrance 
examinations  to  the  new  Rangoon  University.  Dr.  Ah 
Pon,  for  a  long  while  associate  physician  with  Doctor 
Henderson  at  Taunggyi,  now  has  charge  of  our  medical 
work  and  hospital  at  Kengtung.  Dr.  Ah  Pon  has  a  deep 
understanding  of  the  different  races  of  Burma.  He  is 
an  exceedingly  strong  personality  and  most  earnestly 
evangelistic.  Saya  Ba  Te,  President  of  the  Burma  Bap- 
tist Convention  in  1920,  was  a  lawyer.  He  left  the  law 
with  its  honors  and  remuneration  to  become  an  evangelist. 
He  has  exceptional  platform  gifts  and  is  a  wonderful 
linguist,  speaking  fluently  English,  Burmese,  Karen, 
Lahu,  and  several  other  languages.  He  has  written  and 
translated  many  hymns  for  the  Lahu  people,  and  has  been 
wonderfully  used  of  God  in  taking  the  gospel  in  their 
own  language  to  many  of  the  frontier  tribes.     Mg  Ba 


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Burma :  Pioneering  in  Faith  43 

Tin,  a  Judson  College  graduate,  a  Christian  layman  of 
outstanding  qualities  of  leadership,  was  the  first  Burman 
to  be  made  a  commissioned  officer  in  the  army.  Mg  Ba 
Tin  not  only  helped  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  British 
Empire  in  the  World  War,  but  in  the  camp  and  on  the 
firing-line  took  his  stand  boldly  for  Jesus  Christ.  Saya 
Tun  Pe,  a  man  of  deep,  quiet,  intense  spiritual  life,  a  most 
delightful  friend  and  helpful  counselor,  is  a  graduate  of 
Judson  College,  with  an  M.  A.  degree  from  Calcutta  Uni- 
versity. He  is  now  professor  in  Judson  College,  and  is  a 
recognized  scholar  in  university  circles.  Saya  Tun  Pe  is 
prominent  in  all  activities  of  the  church,  is  a  most  accept- 
able preacher,  and  is  an  earnest  personal  worker.  U  Tho 
Din,  of  Insein,  is  a  retired  Government  official,  a  man  of 
most  striking  personal  appearance,  who  is  now  devoting 
most  of  his  time  and  efifort  to  Christian  work.  He  is  a  most 
generous  supporter  of  the  Aloulmein  Baptist  Orphanage, 
the  Burman  Theological  Seminary,  and  all  the  activities 
of  the  church  and  the  Burma  Baptist  Conference.  Saya 
Ah  Syoo,  pastor  of  the  Moulmein  Burma  Baptist  church, 
first  Burmese  President  of  the  Burma  Baptist  Convention, 
a  trustee  of  Judson  College,  a  man  loved  and  respected 
by  all  who  know  him,  prominent  in  all  missionary,  educa- 
tional, and  philanthropic  activities  of  the  church  in  Burma, 
is  a  good  representative  of  the  Burmese  Baptist  pastors, 
among  whom  there  are  many  noble  men  of  high  devotion 
and  self-sacrifice. 

Wherever  Christianity  goes,  there  womanhood  and 
childhood  are  loved,  honored,  and  blessed.  The  Burmese 
women  have  always  held  a  place  of  primary  importance 
in  no  way  inferior  to  the  men.  Buddhism  does  not  give 
her  this  place,  for  in  Buddhism  her  hope  for  the  future  and 
her  constant  prayer  is  that  in  her  next  existence  she  may 
be  born  a  man,  for  then  she  will  be  eligible  to  become  a 


44  Following  the  Pioneers 

poonjye  or  priest,  and  from  that  vantage-ground  she 
may  more  rapidly  find  her  way  to  naikban  and  extinction 
from  the  endless  succession  of  lives.  The  most  conserva- 
tive and  loyal  disciple  of  any  religion  is  woman.  To  win 
Burma  we  must  win  the  women  of  the  land,  the  mothers 
to  mold  and  guide  the  life  of  the  future.  Our  Burmese 
Mission  is  rich  in  its  women. 

Dr.  Ma  Saw  Sa  received  her  early  training  in  the  mis- 
sion school  at  Danubyu,  Bassein,  and  Zigon,  and  her 
high-school  work  at  the  college  school.  She  entered  the 
college  in  1904,  and  as  a  student  was  an  active  Christian 
worker.  She  made  it  a  practise  to  visit  the  hospitals  of 
Rangoon  and  try  to  lead  the  women  patients  to  Christ. 
In  this  way  she  became  convinced  that  there  was  great 
need  for  Christian  women  doctors,  and  proceeded  to 
Calcutta,  where  she  won  the  degree  of  licentiate  in  mid- 
wifery and  surgery  in  1911.  Then  she  went  to  Dublin  to 
specialize  further.  She  obtained  by  examination  a  fellow- 
ship in  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  and  the  diploma 
of  public  health.  The  nobility  of  her  choice  and  the 
ideals  that  actuated  it,  for  she  is  the  first  and  only  Burman 
woman  physician,  made  a  deep  impression,  not  only  on 
the  Christian,  but  also  on  the  Buddhist  Burmans.  To  the 
ideals  of  her  college  days  she  remained  true.  She  is 
today  one  of  the  leading  members  of  the  Burmese  Chris- 
tian Community,  and  is  now  Superintendent  of  Dufferin 
Hospital,  Rangoon.  Dr.  Ma  Saw  Sa  was  the  Jubilee 
guest  of  the  Woman's  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 
Society  from  Burma  in  1921.  There  are  many  such 
women  in  our  Burmese  Mission.  There  is  Ma  Tin  of 
Rangoon,  who  has  given  herself  to  direct  Bible  teaching 
and  evangelistic  work  among  Burmese  women  and 
children.  She  is  a  woman  with  a  deep  spiritual  ex- 
perience who  is  known  all  through  the  mission  for  her 


Burma :  Pioneering  in  Faith  45 

Christian  character  and  her  ChristUke  work.  Ma  Alary, 
of  Henzada,  is  a  Hving  saint,  known  far  and  near  for 
long  years  of  service  at  Henzada,  a  tower  of  strength  to 
the  Burmese  church.  i\Ia  Shwe  Me,  of  Morton  Lane 
Girls'  School,  a  teacher  of  many  years  in  this  school, 
was  recently  recognized  by  the  government,  who,  in 
appreciation  of  her  service  to  the  cause  of  the  education  of 
girls  in  Burma,  rewarded  her  publicly  by  the  gift  of  a 
watch.  Her  quiet  but  strong  personality  has  been  one 
of  the  big  factors  in  the  unparalleled  influence  of  the 
Morton  Lane  Girls'  School.  These  women  are  but  repre- 
sentatives of  a  class  whom  Christ  is  bringing  to  the  front 
for  the  new  day  in  Burma. 

The  story  of  the  suffering  of  Judson  in  the  death 
prison  at  Ava  and  Oung-Pen-La  and  of  the  heroism  and 
devotion  of  Mrs.  Judson  is  one  of  the  priceless  heritages 
of  Christian  faith.  Of  this  experience  Edward  Judson 
wrote : 

But  the  spectacle  of  our  missionary  lying  in  an  Oriental  prison, 
freighted  with  five  pairs  of  irons,  his  heroic  wife  ministering 
to  him  like  an  angel  during  the  long  months  of  agony,  has  burned 
itself  into  the  consciousness  of  Christendom,  and  has  made  retreat 
impossible  from  the  ramparts  of  heathenism. 

The  lone  believer  of  1819  has  become  a  multitude  who 
have  washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb.  The  Bible  had  been  translated  into 
Burmese,  the  Karens  as  a  nation  had  accepted  the  gospel, 
when  stricken  with  disease  Mr.  Judson  was  put  on  a 
vessel  for  a  sea  voyage,  and  in  a  few  days,  on  April  12, 
1850,  the  old  soldier  reported  to  the  great  Commander, 
and  his  body  was  buried  at  sea.  Alone  among  strangers 
he  was  lowered  to  his  ocean  grave.  Nor  could  he  have 
had  a  more  fitting  monument  than  the  blue  waves  which 


46  Following  the  Pioneers 

visit  every  coast,  for  his  warm  sympathies  went  forth  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth  and  included  all  the  families  of  men. 
In  the  Baptist  meeting-house  at  Maiden  there  is  a  marble 
tablet  with  this  inscription  : 

Maiden  his  birthplace,  the  ocean  his  sepulchre,  converted  Bur- 
mans  and  the  Burman  Bible  his  monument.    His  record  is  on  high. 


Ill 


THE  KARENS  OF  BURMA : 
TRIUMPHANT  CHRISTIANITY 


Uplifted  are  the  gates  of  brass,  the  bars  of  iron  yield; 
Behold  the  King  of  Glory  pass,  the  Cross  hath  won  the  field. 


Dr.  MA  SAW  SA 
Superintendent  of  Dufferin  Hospital,  Rangoon,  Burma 


THE  KARENS  OF  BURMA: 
TRIUMPHANT  CHRISTIANITY 


The  Karen  Baptist  Mission  in  Burma  is  one  of  the  great 
triumphs  of  the  foreign  missionary  movement  and  one 
of  the  preeminent  miracles  of  modern  missions.  It  is 
generally  recognized  that  the  Karen  race  owes  its  marked 
development  and  the  leading  place  it  holds  today  among 
the  races  of  Burma  to  the  American  Baptist  Mission. 
There  are  918  Karen  Baptist  churches  in  Burma  with  a 
membership  of  56,714.  According  to  the  1921  census 
134,924  out  of  the  total  of  178,225  Karen  Christians  call 
themselves  Baptists. 

The  Karens  are  Mongoloids,  related  to  the  Chinese, 
having  migrated  south  from  Western  China.  There  are 
between  1,500,000  and  2,000,000  Karens  in  Burma  and 
about  the  same  number  in  Siam.  The  three  main  divisions 
of  the  Karens  are  Sgaw  Karens.  Pwo  Karens,  and  Red 
Karens.  There  are  a  number  of  other  minor  tribes,  such 
as  the  Bwe,  Paku,  Taungthu,  and  Padongs.  While  there 
are  no  hard  and  fast  geographical  lines  by  which  we 
can  designate  their  location,  we  can  in  general  say  that 
the  Pwo  Karens  are  in  the  lower  Delta  extending  south- 
east to  the  Moulmein  and  Tavoy  side  and  over  into  Siam. 
The  Sgaw  Karens  occupy  in  general  the  territory  from 
the  Arracan  shore  eastward  to  Toungoo,  and  extend  to 
the  south  into  the  Delta.  The  Red  Karens  are  found  in 
the  Karrennee  Hills  south  of  the  Shan  States.  Over 
three-fifths  of  our  converts  are  from  the  Sgaw  Karens 
two-fifth«i  from  the  Pwo  Karens  and  other  tribes. 

49 


50  Following  the  Pioneers 

There  are  many  traditions  in  regard  to  the  origin  of 
the  Karens  and  their  migration  from  China.  One  of  the 
traditions  is  as  follows :  There  were  ninety-nine  families 
traveling  south.  They  stopped  at  noon  to  make  their 
dinner  of  snails,  which  they  cooked  with  an  herb  that 
turned  the  brew  red,  and  they  mistook  the  color  for  un- 
cooked blood.  Therefore,  thirty-three  families  started  on 
without  waiting  for  the  brew  to  cook  until  done.  These 
included  the  Karens.  The  sixty-six  families  remained 
behind  to  finish  the  brew  and  are  there  to  this  day.  They 
are  the  Muhsoes,  Lahus,  Kaws,  Was,  and  other  closely 
allied  races.  Another  tradition  which  is  found  among 
all  the  Karens  is  that  their  forefathers  crossed  a  river 
of  sand.  This  is  generally  believed  to  be  the  Desert  of 
Gobi. 

Under  their  Burmese  conquerors,  the  Karens  had  a 
hard  time,  and  were  driven  into  the  mountain  recesses 
where  they  were  able  to  protect  themselves  from  the 
Burmans.  From  these  mountain  villages  they  made  fre- 
quent raids  upon  the  rich  valleys  of  the  Burmans  and 
Shans,  and  in  return  the  Burmans  and  Shans  often  hunted 
the  Karens  in  their  mountain  fastnesses  as  they  would 
hunt  wild  beasts.  Under  British  protection  the  Pwos  and 
Sgaw  Karens  have  spread  out  more  and  more  through 
the  Delta  section  where  great  stretches  of  the  best  land 
in  Burma  are  now  being  cultivated  by  the  Karens.  They 
have  been  educated  by  our  Baptist  Mission,  and  are  now 
in  every  way  the  equal  of  their  Burmese  brothers.  The 
events  of  the  past  few  years  have  fanned  the  spirit  of 
race  and  nationalism  among  the  Karens.  They  have  a 
national  society,  the  Dawkalat,  in  which  both  Christians 
and  non-Christians  cooperate. 

The  national  characteristics  and  temperament  of  the 
Karens  largely  reflect  the  oppression,  poverty,  and  re- 


The  Karens  of  Burma  51 

ligious  influences  to  which  they  have  been  subjected. 
Hasty  judgment  is  apt  to  be  very  unfair.  When  one  has 
Hved  and  worked  with  the  Karens  long  enough  to  know 
and  understand  them,  he  will  love  them  for  their  many 
virtues.  The  Karens  are  clannish,  timid,  and  retiring — a 
natural  condition  for  a  people  who  for  centuries  have 
been  tormented  and  torn  by  oppressors.  In  their  lives 
and  conduct  they  are  simple,  unassuming,  open-hearted, 
and  straightforward.  By  nature  they  are  a  moral  and 
religious  people,  hard-working  and  industrious.  The 
Karens  are  also  great  lovers  of  music  and  have  developed 
a  real  appreciation  of  Western  musical  art ;  in  fact,  some 
of  them  have  voices  which  with  training  might  fit  them 
to  join  an  opera  company  in  America.  The  Karen  choir 
which  attended  the  great  Christian  Endeavor  World  Con- 
vention at  Agra  a  few  years  ago  quite  captured  the  Con- 
vention with  its  splendid  music. 

Before  the  Karens  came  into  contact  with  Buddhism 
and  Christianity,  they  were  devil-worshipers  pure  and 
simple.  The  following  is  one  of  their  traditions :  A 
father  living  in  the  jungle  left  his  children  to  watch  the 
house  while  he  went  far  afield  to  work  his  garden. 
While  he  was  gone  a  great  tiger  came  to  the  house  in 
search  of  food.  The  children  in  terror  hid  themselves 
under  some  blankets  in  the  house  while  the  tiger  made  his 
meal  of  pork,  killing  and  eating  the  mother  of  a  litter  of 
pigs  under  the  house.  At  night  when  the  father  returned 
he  could  not  find  the  children  nor  get  an  answer  to  his 
calls.  At  last  he  found  them  shaking  with  fright,  and 
got  from  them  the  story  of  the  day's  happenings.  Next 
morning  he  said,  "  Now  what  shall  I  do,  for  according  to 
the  customs  of  tigers,  it  will  be  sure  to  return  today  in 
search  of  more  food,  and  will  eat  my  children?  "  At  last 
he  decided  to  build  a  little  hut  high  up  in  a  clump  of 


52  Following  the  Pioneers 

big  bamboos.  This  he  did,  and  placed  his  children  and 
the  litter  of  pigs  in  it,  and  went  off  to  his  work.  Soon 
the  tiger  came  again  and  searched  under  the  house  and 
in  the  house,  finding  nothing.  Finally  he  scented  his 
food  in  the  bamboos  and  tried  to  spring  up  at  them,  but 
failed.  Neither  could  he  climb  the  bamboos.  Thereupon 
he  sat  under  the  bamboos  and  shook  the  earth  with  a 
terrifying  roar.  The  children,  shaking  with  fear,  said, 
''  What  shall  we  do  ?  "  The  elder  brother  proposed  that 
they  feed  the  little  pigs  to  him,  which  they  did  one  at  a 
time  to  satisfy  the  tiger  and  save  themselves.  All  the 
time  they  were  anxiously  hoping  for  the  return  of  their 
father  and  listening  for  the  twang  of  his  bow-string. 
Thus  the  Karen  justifies  himself  for  the  sacrifices  he 
offers  to  demons  from  the  motive  of  fear  and  not  out 
of  love. 

There  are  other  traditions  that  have  prepared  the 
Karens  in  a  marvelous  way  for  the  reception  of  the  gospel. 
These  traditions  have  been  learned  and  passed  on  orally 
from  father  to  son  for  generations.  One  tradition  says 
that  the  Karens  years  ago  had  the  book  of  God.  It  got 
wet  in  the  rains  and  was  placed  on  a  post  to  dry.  One  of 
the  innumerable  crows  of  the  country  alighted  on  it,  caus- 
ing it  to  fall  to  the  ground,  and  immediately  one  of  the 
hungry  pariah  dogs,  with  which  the  country  abounds,  ate 
it.  Thus  the  book  of  God  was  lost.  But  their  younger  white 
brother  would  come  in  a  boat  with  great  white  wings 
to  bring  back  the  book  of  God.  The  Burman  could  not 
give  it  to  them  (that  is,  Buddhism).  The  Chinaman 
could  not  give  it  to  them  (that  is,  Confucianism).  The 
Indian  could  not  give  it  to  them  (that  is,  Hinduism). 
Thus  the  three  great  nations  by  which  they  were  sur- 
rounded could  not  out  of  their  three  great  religious  sys- 
tems give  back  the  book  of  God.     When  their  younger 


The  Karens  of  Burma  53 

white  brother  came  from  over  the  sea  in  a  great  ship 
with  white  wings,  he  would  give  them  back  the  book.  At 
that  time  the  boats  would  paddle  themselves  (mechanically 
propelled  boats),  the  rice-grinder  would  run  itself  (steam 
rice-mills),  the  weaving-machine  would  run  itself (  ma- 
chine-made cloth  in  place  of  material  made  in  the  hand- 
loom).  It  is  easy  at  once  to  see  how,  with  the  advent  of 
the  Christian  missionary,  these  prophecies  all  seemed  to 
be  most  literally  fulfilled.  When  Doctor  Wade  first  went 
out  on  a  preaching  tour  with  an  interpreter  among  the 
Karens,  he  entered  a  village,  and  the  people  at  once  fled. 
After  he  sent  for  them  and  assured  them  that  he  was 
not  an  official  of  the  Government  but  a  religious  teacher, 
they  were  persuaded  to  return  and  listen.  Very  soon 
an  elder  in  the  number  spoke  up  and  asked,  "  Where  is 
the  book?"  He  was  asked,  "What  book?"  and  the 
answer  came  back,  "  The  Karen  book."  But  Doctor 
Wade  said,  "  The  Karen  never  had  a  book,  he  has  no 
writing."  Then  the  elder  assured  him  that  they  did 
have  a  book,  and  told  how  it  was  lost,  and  how  they 
have  been  waiting  for  the  white  brother  to  return  it  to 
them.  This  decided  Doctor  Wade  to  reduce  the  language 
to  writing  so  as  to  translate  the  Bible  into  Karen. 

These  traditions  were  in  verse,  and  have  been  learned 
and  orally  passed  on  from  father  to  son  for  generations. 
Below  is  a  translation  of  one  of  the  traditions  about  the 
Creation : 

The  earth  at  first  a  speck  of  froth; 
Who  created?    Who  remade  it? 
The  earth  at  first  a  speck  of  foam ; 
Who  created?    Who  remade  it? 
The  earth  at  first  a  speck  of  froth ; 
God  created.     God  remade  it. 
The  earth  at  first  a  speck  of  foam ; 
God  himself  formed,  he  reformed  it. 


54  Following  the  Pioneers 

Heaven  above  the  Eternal  placed, 
Earth  beneath  the  Eternal  placed; 
Heaven  and  earth  he  cleft  apart, 
Placed  whom  when  he  would  depart? 
The  Eternal  ordered  heaven  vast, 
Fixed  the  earth's  foundation  fast; 
Heaven  and  earth  asunder  cleft, 
Man  and  woman  there  were  left. 

Like  a  top  the  round  world  spinning, 
How  lived  folks  in  the  beginning? 
Like  thread  on  reel  it  circles  round, 
What  have  the  first  folks  on  it  found? 
Round  the  earth  spins  like  a  top. 
Turned  as  reel  without  a  stop ; 
Here  the  first  folks  lived  at  leisure. 
Here  the  first  folks  lived  for  pleasure. 

The  whole  round  earth  God  came  to  form. 
He  can  make  broad,  he  can  make  narrow ; 
The  whole  round  earth  God  came  to  mend. 
With  ease  he  can  make  broad  or  narrow. 

Rev.  E,  N.  Harris,  a  Karen  missionary,  in  his  in- 
forming book  on  the  Karen  people,  "  A  Star  in  the  East," 
from  which  the  traditions  quoted  in  this  chapter  have  been 
taken,  thus  describes  the  work  of  the  early  missionaries 
in  reducing  the  Karen  language  to  writing  and  producing 
a  literature  for  these  people : 

This  insistent  demand  on  the  part  of  the  Karen  people  in  accor- 
dance with  their  traditions  seemed  to  make  it  necessary  that  the 
missionaries  should  give  them  the  Bible  in  their  own  vernacular. 
This  it  was  which  decided  them  to  reduce  the  Karen  language 
to  writing.  Mr.  Wade  is  said  to  have  accomplished  this  feat  be- 
fore he  himself  had  learned  to  speak  it.  It  stands  today  as  a 
monument  to  his  genius.  He  adapted  the  Burmese  alphabet  to 
the  expression  of  Karen  sounds,  and  produced  a  system  of  writing 
which  is  purely  phonetic.  Some  Karen  sounds  defy  expression 
with  Roman  letters,  and  a  Karen  who  had  already  learned  to  read 


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The  Karens  of  Burma  55 

Burmese  could  readily  pass  from  that  to  Karen,  while  on  the 
other  hand,  if  he  learned  first  to  read  his  own  language,  he  could 
easily  pick  up  the  Burmese ;  and  to  the  average  Karen,  Bur- 
mese must,  for  many  generations,  be  of  much  more  value  than 
English. 

The  language  vehicle  having  been  determined  upon,  the  next 
thing  in  order  was  to  produce  a  literature.  Among  the  first  books 
to  be  translated  was,  of  course,  the  Bible.  This  great  task  was 
undertaken  by  Doctor  Mason,  and  an  excellent  version  from  the 
original  tongues  was  produced.  An  anthology  worthy  to  grace 
any  language  was  prepared,  over  two  hundred  hymns,  remarkably 
true  to  the  idiom  of  the  language  and  to  the  genius  of  the  Karen 
people,  issuing  from  the  pen  of  the  first  Mrs.  Vinton  alone.  A 
Karen  who  seems  to  have  had  an  extraordinarily  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  his  own  language,  people,  and  customs,  was  found 
and,  although  the  Karen  is  thought  of  as  having  a  rather  meager 
vocabulary,  yet  with  his  assistance  and  at  his  dictation,  a  compen- 
dium of  Karen  terms  and  ideas  was  compiled  in  five  thick  volumes, 
called  The  Karen  Thesaurus,  which  has  not  been  surpassed  to  this 
day  and  deserves  to  rank  almost  as  an  encyclopedia.  Spelling-books 
were  prepared,  and  arithmetics,  geographies,  astronomies,  and  other 
books  in  great  number.  Schools  were  almost  from  the  beginning 
a  necessity,  demanded  by  the  people  themselves,  for  as  soon  as  a 
Karen  adopts  the  Christian  religion  he  wants  two  things,  first 
to  acquire  knowledge,  secondly,  to  improve  his  physical  surround- 
ings. To  this  day,  they  seem  almost  to  think  that  to  be  able  to 
read  is  part  of  being  a  Christian,  for  seldom  does  a  Karen  turn 
to  the  Christian,  religion  but  in  some  way  he  manages  to  acquire 
at  least  a  knowledge  of  the  alphabet. 

Adoniram  Judson  was  in  Burma  a  number  of  years 
before  he  knew,  there  was  such  a  people  as  the  Karens. 
Soon  after  the  first  Burmese  war,  1822-1824,  in  which 
the  Tenasserim  Province  was  ceded  to  the  British,  a  dull 
and  uninteresting  Karen,  Ko  Tha  Byu,  visited  Rangoon, 
where  he  contracted  a  debt  which  he  was  unable  to  pay, 
and  was  seized  by  his  creditor,  a  Burman,  and  according 
to  Burmese  law  became  his  slave.  Maung  Shive  Bay, 
a  Christian,  freed  him  by  paying  the  debt,  and  took  him 


56  Following  the  Pioneers 

to  Doctor  Judson,  where  he  was  received  as  a  servant  and 
instructed  in  the  Christian  rehgion.  This  child  of  the 
jungle,  with  a  diabolical  temper,  could  already  count 
about  thirty  lives  which  he  had  taken  as  principal  or  as 
accessory.  By  the  power  of  the  gospel  he  was  converted 
and  desired  to  join  the  Burmese  church  in  Moulmein. 
For  a  long  time  he  was  held  on  probation,  during  which 
period  he  accompanied  Dr.  Dana  Boardman  to  Tavoy 
and  was  there  baptized  in  1828.  He  developed  great 
power  as  an  evangelist,  and  traveled  far  and  wide  through 
the  jungle  preaching  Jesus  and  winning  thousands  to 
Christianity.  As  a  result  of  this  work,  when  the  country 
was  opened  after  the  second  Burmese  war  in  1852,  many 
disciples  were  found  ready  and  waiting  for  baptism. 
Thus  the  foundations  were  laid  for  what  was  afterward 
the  mass  movement  toward  Christianity  in  the  Bassein, 
Rangoon,  and  Pegu  districts.  The  growth  of  the  work 
was  most  remarkable.  In  1828,  Ko  Tha  Byu  was  con- 
verted. In  1831,  Doctor  Wade  did  his  first  touring 
among  the  Karens  and  became  acquainted  with  their  won- 
derful traditions.  In  1845,  Doctor  Binney  opened  at 
Moulmein  the  Karen  Theological  Seminary  which  later 
removed  to  Rangoon  and  Insein.  The  Karen  Theological 
Seminary  is  the  oldest  theological  seminary  in  the  Orient. 
In  1852  came  the  second  war  between  the  British  and 
the  Burmese,  and  the  lower  Delta  region  from  the  sea  to 
above  Toungoo,  including  practically  all  the  country  in- 
habited by  the  Karens,  became  British  territory.  Ran- 
goon was  taken  by  the  British,  and  Rev.  J.  H.  Vinton, 
the  illustrious  head  of  a  family  numbering  a  long  line  of 
missionaries,  hastened  to  the  city  that  he  might  minister 
to  the  thousands  of  Karen  refugees  there  in  camp.  The 
following  table  will  give  an  idea  of  the  greatness  of  our 
Karen  work  in  1922: 


The  Karens  of  Burma  57 

13  Mission  stations  for  Karen  work. 
918  Organized  churches. 

217  Ordained  preachers. 
517  Unordained  preachers, 

14  Bible-women. 

3,289  Baptisms  during  the  year. 
56,714  Total  baptized  membership. 
411,175  Total  contribution  in  rupees  for  the  year. 
517  Sunday  schools. 
895  Sunday  school  teachers. 
14,264  Enrolled  in  Sunday  schools. 
712  Day-schools. 
1,055  Teachers  in  day-schools. 

12  Anglo-vernacular  primary  and  middle  schools. 
3  High  schools. 
1  College. 

1  Theological  seminary. 
1  Woman's  Bible  school. 
210  Christian  Endeavor  Societies. 
7,283  Enrolment  of  the  C.  E.  Society. 

This  great  body  of  Karen  Christians  is  organized  into 
independent  and  self-directing  churches,  and  these 
churches  are  organized  into  fifteen  Karen  Baptist  Asso- 
ciations. These  Associations  are  linked  together  into  two 
Conferences,  Pwo  Karen  and  Sgaw  Karen,  and  these  two 
Conferences  are  united  with  the  Baptists  of  other  races 
and  the  Burma  Baptist  Convention.  There  were  2,300 
registered  delegates  in  attendance  at  the  session  of  the 
Burma  Baptist  Convention  in  Rangoon  in  October,  1921. 
The  Burma  Baptist  Convention  is,  of  course,  entirely  in- 
dependent and  self-supporting  in  all  its  work,  and  carries 
on  a  most  important  missionary  work  in  every  field  within 
the  borders  of  Burma  and  beyond  these  borders  into 
China  on  the  North  and  Siam  on  the  East. 

Each  Karen  mission  station  maintains  a  large  Anglo- 


58  Following  the  Pioneers 

vernacular  school,  and  nearly  every  Christian  village 
maintains  its  own  day-school.  The  Karen  Home  Mis- 
sion Societies  of  the  two  Conferences  are  continually 
opening  new  general  schools  in  non-Christian  villages. 
The  normal  school  in  Rangoon  for  boys  and  the  normal 
schools  for  girls  at  Moulmein  and  at  Kemendine  serve 
the  Karens  as  well  as  the  other  races  of  Burma.  The 
Karen  Theological  Seminary  at  Insein,  with  its  up-to-date 
equipment,  a  faculty  of  the  highest  standard,  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  students,  with  a  graduating  class  of 
forty-two  this  year,  is  most  enthusiastically  supported 
by  the  Karen  Christians  and  churches.  It  is  the  oldest 
school  with  a  continuous  history  connected  with  the  Bap- 
tist Mission  in  Burma.  It  was  founded  in  Moulmein 
in  1845,  less  than  twenty  years  after  the  conversion  of 
Ko  Tha  Byu,  the  first  Karen  Christian  convert.  From 
the  very  beginning,  the  spirit  of  evangelism  became  the 
dominant  characteristic  of  Karen  Christianity,  and  this 
has  continued  to  the  present  day.  The  seminary  sends 
out  annually  a  score  or  more  young  men  in  various  forms 
of  Christian  work.  When  the  seminary  was  opened  the 
only  text-book  available  in  the  Karen  language  was  the 
New  Testament.  It  was  not  imtil  eight  years  later  that 
the  complete  Bible  had  been  translated  into  the  Karen 
language.  Since  then  text-books  have  been  prepared,  and 
in  addition  to  the  complete  Bible  there  is  a  commentary 
in  three  volumes  which  covers  every  book  in  the  Bible,  a 
church  history,  text-books  on  science,  logic,  theology, 
homiletics,  and  a  Karen  Bible  handbook,  together  with 
numerous  other  publications.  The  pastor  in  a  Karen 
village  occupies  the  position  once  held  by  the  minister 
in  the  colonial  New  England  town.  He  is  the  leader 
of  the  village  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  term.  In  the 
early  days  of  the  mission  the  man  who  could  learn  to  read 


The  Karens  of  Burma  59 

and  to  sing  a  few  hymns  went  out  as  a  teacher.  Many 
a  Hfelong  pastorate  has  been  conducted  with  Httle  more 
than  such  a  preparation.  But  the  times  are  changing. 
One  of  the  best  and  most  beloved  of  the  teachers  of  this 
seminary  who  has  just  retired  after  thirty-one  years' 
service  here,  had  almost  no  schooling  except  the  four 
years  he  had  in  the  seminary.  But  the  day  of  such  men 
is  past.  The  changing  times  have  brought  education  to 
the  villages,  and  boys  from  station  high  schools  are  found 
all  over  the  country.  Our  pastors  must  be  as  highly 
educated  as  the  better  men  of  their  communities.  To 
replace  this  retiring  teacher,  San  Ba,  a  man  who  has  his 
B.  A.  from  Judson  College  and  a  full  course  at  Newton 
Theological  Seminary,  has  been  secured.  Other  college 
graduates  are  in  line  for  the  strengthening  of  our  staff 
in  order  that  we  may  be  ready  to  meet  the  new  standard 
that  we  are  setting  for  students.  Well-trained  teachers 
for  well-trained  students  is  our  watchword.  The  Karens 
love  their  Theological  Seminary  and  have  raised  an  en- 
dowment of  over  Rs.  35,000.  The  annual  contribution 
of  the  Karen  churches  to  the  Seminary  amounts  to  Rs. 
5,000,  while  the  appropriation  from  the  Foreign  Mission 
Society  is  Rs.  2,000.  On  December  12,  1921,  Dr.  D.  A. 
W.  Smith,  who  for  forty  years,  1876-1916,  was  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Seminary,  died.  The  people  all  over  the 
country  mourn  his  loss.  The  Karens  proposed  to  build 
a  new  quadrangle  of  dormitories  and  to  name  the  build- 
ings The  Smith  Memorial  Buildings.  On  February  1, 
the  largest  class  in  the  history  of  the  seminary  was 
graduated.  Forty-two  men  took  their  diplomas.  Of 
these,  four  men  have  gone  to  China  to  assist  Mr.  Young 
in  his  work  among  the  hill-tribes  there.  Two  others  have 
gone  to  a  new  tribe,  the  Palaungs,  in  the  Shan  country, 
and  two  others  have  gone  to  Siam.     These  men   (with 


60  Following  the  Pioneers 

the  exception  of  the  last  two,  who  are  working  among 
Karens  in  Siam)  are  learning  new  languages,  and  work- 
ing among  peoples  almost  as  foreign  to  them  as  the 
Karens  are  to  us. 

The  Sgaw  Karen  Mission  in  Bassein  is  probably  the 
best  organized  and  most  successful  mission  of  any  de- 
nomination anywhere  in  the  world.  The  Sgaw  Karen 
Christians  of  this  mission  are  organized  into  the  Bassein 
Sgaw  Karen  Baptist  Association,  with  one  hundred  and 
fifty  self-supporting  churches,  with  an  average  member- 
ship of  one  hundred.  From  the  beginning  of  the  Bassein 
Sgaw  Karen  Mission  under  Doctor  Abbot,  later  under 
Doctor  Carpenter,  and  now  under  Doctor  Nichols,  these 
Karens  have  had  as  missionaries  men  of  vision  and  ability 
who  have  led  them  through  great  undertakings,  both  for 
themselves  and  for  others,  and  from  the  beginning  these 
Karens  have  been  developed  under  lines  of  self-support. 
The  churches  of  this  Association  maintain  one  hundred 
and  seventy  village  schools.  They  also  have  a  boarding- 
school  at  Bassein,  with  an  enrolment  of  760  boys  and  girls 
from  the  lower  standards  through  the  high  school.  The 
school  has  an  endowment  of  one  hundred  thousand  rupees 
invested  in  America,  and  as  an  additional  endowment 
owns  a  mill  property  that  was  purchased  in  1888  for 
thirty  thousand  rupees.  This  property  has  been  added 
to  since  by  a  branch  mill  and  a  rice-mill,  and  the  plant 
is  valued  today  at  two  hundred  thousand  rupees.  There 
are  twenty-two  teachers  in  the  school,  including  two 
missionaries  of  the  Woman's  American  Baptist  Foreign 
Mission  Society.  Music,  both  instrumental  and  vocal,  has 
a  large  place  in  the  school,  and  there  is  a  well-trained 
band  of  fifteen  pieces.  The  large  majority  of  the  pupils 
are  boarders,  and  all  boarders  are  required  to  do  one 
and  three-quarter  hours  of  work  each  day.     Because  of 


The  Karens  of  Burma  61 

their  endowment  and  voluntary  contributions  the  Karens 
of  this  field  are  able  to  offer  a  full  high-school  course 
to  Karen  boys  and  girls,  no  matter  how  poor,  at  a  nominal 
cost  of  twenty-two  rupees  per  year.  The  value  of  the 
school  buildings  is  seven  hundred  thousand  rupees.  There 
are  twenty-six  buildings,  dormitories  for  boys  and  girls, 
a  steam  laundry,  steam  cooking-plant,  gymnasium,  and 
other  buildings.  All  the  main  buildings  are  of  brick 
and  cement  and  built  on  the  most  modern  plan.  There 
is  not  one  cent  of  American  money  in  any  of  these 
buildings  with  the  exception  of  the  two  houses  in  which 
the  missionaries  live.  The  finest  school  and  chapel  build- 
ing in  the  province  is  the  new  Ko  Tha  Byu  Memorial 
Hall  just  completed  at  a  cost  of  432,000  rupees.  There  is 
no  American  money  in  this  building.  The  building  in- 
cludes, in  addition  to  twenty-two  large  classrooms,  offices, 
and  library,  an  auditorium  seating  fifteen  hundred.  In 
the  clock-tower  is  a  set  of  American  chimes.  The  entire 
building  is  lighted  with  reflecting  electric  light  from  the 
school's  own  power  plant,  which  supplies  electricity  for 
all  the  buildings  on  the  compound.  Two  thousand  people 
were  crowded  into  the  building  when  I  preached  the  dedi- 
catory sermon  Sunday  evening,  February  5,  1922.  Sun- 
day afternoon  many  of  the  pastors  and  laymen  told  in 
their  simple  way  how  the  money  for  the  building  was 
secured.  I  have  never  heard  more  interesting  stories  of 
faith,  consecration,  and  stewardship.  Doctor  Nichols, 
the  veteran  missionary  of  this  field,  writes  as  follows  in 
regard  to  this  building: 

What  has  been  our  dominant  objective  in  all  our  work?  I 
think  that  I  can  truly  say  that  it  has  been  none  other  than  this: 
To  secure  a  building  which  would  suitably  express  our  gratitude 
to  God  for  his  incomparable  mercies  to  our  people  from  the 
earliest  times  when  the  first  Karen  Christian,  Ko  Tha  Byu,  a  man 


62  Following  the  Pioneers 

from  our  own  district,  who  according  to  his  own  confession  had" 
killed  not  less  than  twenty-nine  people,  was  so  thoroughly  con- 
verted that  he  became  the  instrument  in  leading  literally  thousands 
from  death  into  a  new  life  in  Christ.  Our  former  building  was 
such  a  memorial,  but,  being  a  wooden  structure,  could  not  last 
much  longer  than  a  single  generation,  while  this  one  should  last 
for  several. 

Such  a  building  to  be  suitable  should  be  built  with  the  same 
regard  for  beauty  as  God  has  himself  shown  in  his  creation. 
It  would  then  be  a  source  of  joy  to  all  beholders  and  thus  be- 
speak his  glory.  It  would  show  to  those  who  do  not  know  him 
that  professing  Christians  love  God  enough  to  be  willing  to 
spend  freely  their  resources  of  money  and  efifort,  in  building  a 
structure  for  his  service,  both  in  worship  and  in  the  Christian 
education  of  the  children  he  has  given  them.  It  would  likewise 
evince  Christian  harmony,  and  arouse  a  desire  for  such  harmony, 
among  those  who  do  not  yet  enjoy  its  privileges. 

One  small  church  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  members,  mostly 
poor,  has,  up  to  the  present  time,  given  over  ten  thousand  rupees, 
yet  when  recently  asked  if  they  felt  in  the  least  impoverished,  they 
unanimously  claimed  that  not  only  was  such  not  the  case,  but  that 
many  were  now  palpably  better  ofif  financially  than  before. 

The  Bassein  Sgaw  Karen  Association  have  their  own 
Home  and  Foreign  Mission  Societies  and  a  Woman's 
Society.  These  societies  support  sixteen  evangehsts  and 
missionaries  in  remote  parts  of  Burma.  The  Kachin  and 
Lahu  work  was  developed  and  is  carried  on  up  to  the 
present  almost  entirely  by  the  Karens.  The  budget  of 
these  societies  is  between  five  thousand  and  six  thousand 
rupees.  In  addition  to  the  support  of  their  own  Karen 
missionaries,  this  Association  makes  liberal  contributions 
to  the  Burma  Baptist  Convention,  the  Karen  Theological 
Seminary,  and  the  Karen  Woman's  Bible  School.  The 
average  yearly  income  of  the  Karens  of  this  field  is  less 
than  two  hundred  rupees.  The  annual  Association  meet- 
ing is  held  in  March  with  an  average  attendance  of  2,500. 
The  Association  is  always  entertained  without  cost  by 


The  Karens  of  Burma  63 

the  church  and  village  in  which  the  Association  is  held. 
In  connection  with  their  big  financial  undertaking  for  the 
building  of  the  Ko  Tha  Byu  Memorial  Hall  and  the  new 
girls'  dormitory,  it  should  be  said  that  there  has  been 
a  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  and  evangelistic  effort  for 
their  people,  and  this  Association  reports  814  baptisms 
this  year.  The  Pwo  Karen  Conference,  although  far 
weaker  in  numbers,  ability,  and  means  than  the  Sgaw 
Karen,  has  opened  more  missionary  work  in  Siam  and  is 
carrying  on  an  aggressive  evangelistic  and  educational 
work  in  that  foreign  country.  Four  years  ago  it  was 
found  necessary  to  transfer  the  missionary  from  the  im- 
portant Shwegyin  field  to  Toungoo.  It  was  suggested 
that  Shwegyin  be  amalgamated  with  an  adjoining  field. 
The  Karen  Christian  leaders  at  Shwegyin  did  not  deem 
it  wise  to  give  up  their  school  and  decided  to  carry  on 
this  mission  with  its  educational  and  evangelistic  work 
on  their  own  initiative,  asking  that  a  missionary  be  sent 
them  as  soon  as  possible.  Learning  in  1922  that  it  was 
impossible  for  the  Society  to  furnish  them  with  a  mis- 
sionary, they  have  organized  the  Association  with  one 
of  their  own  number  in  charge  and  will  continue  an 
aggressive  policy  of  evangelistic  and  educational  work. 
This  field  reported  in  1921  eighty-six  churches  with  a 
total  membership  of  3,369  and  208  baptisms  within  the 
year. 

The  Karens  made  a  heroic  record  in  the  great  war.  A 
British  official  at  the  close  of  the  war  wrote : 

The  Karens,  under  the  influence  of  Doctor  Nichols  of  the  Amer- 
ican Baptist  Mission  in  Bassein,  have  come  to  regard  it  as  their 
duty  and  privilege  to  take  part  in  the  present  struggle,  and  their 
headmen  and  the  elders  of  their  churches  have  been  their  leaders. 

In  a  personal  letter  this  official  writes: 


64  Following  the  Pioneers 

Dear  Doctor  Nichols :  I  ought  to  have  written  earlier  to  con- 
gratulate the  Irrawaddy  Division  and  yourself  on  the  excellent 
effort  they  have  made  in  the  war.  They  have  shown  what  high 
moral  and  religious  ideals  can  do  for  a  race,  and  to  the  teachers 
and  leaders  all  praise  is  due.  Karens  have  made  a  name  for 
steadmess  and  disregard  for  wartime  difficulties,  and  they  have 
won  the  regard  of  officers  in  all  units.  I  have  called  the  especial 
attention  of  Government  to  the  part  taken  by  the  Karens.  To 
yourself  personally,  I  offer  my  best  thanks. 

The  Karens  are  especially  blessed  in  the  large  num- 
ber of  Christian  leaders,  pastors,  teachers,  laymen,  and 
women.  Probably  the  most  famous  is  Dr.  San  C.  Po, 
who  grew  up  in  a  little  village  of  Ko  Su  Ka  five  miles 
from  Bassein.  Both  his  father  and  grandfather  were 
Christians.  His  grandfather,  because  he  was  a  Christian, 
was  dragged  around  the  streets  of  Bassein  with  a  rope 
around  his  waist.  San  C.  Po  went  to  America  when  he 
was  twelve  years  old.  After  graduating  from  Colgate 
University,  he  went  to  the  Albany  Medical  School.  In 
Albany  he  lived  in  the  home  of  a  praying  Christian  Amer- 
ican woman  who  had  a  great  influence  on  his  life.  Upon 
his  return  to  Burma  he  first  entered  Government  service, 
but  later  took  up  private  practise.  He  has  always  been 
loyal  to  the  Sgaw  Karen  Baptist  church  at  Bassein, 
and  is  respected  by  all  without  distinction  of  race  or  creed. 
In  1916,  he  became  a  member  of  the  Governor's  Coun- 
cil, and  was  later  selected  by  the  Christians  of  all  Burma 
to  represent  them  before  Mr.  Montagu,  Secretary  of 
State  for  India,  when  Mr.  Montagu  visited  India  in 
1917  to  study  conditions  that  resulted  in  the  present  con- 
stitutional reforms  in  Burma  and  India.  When  Mr. 
Montagu  planned  the  Whyte  Committee  to  investigate 
the  situation  in  Burma  before  the  final  settlement  of  all 
the  issues  in  regard  to  the  Burma  Reform  Scheme,  Dr. 
San  C.  Po's  name  was  especially  mentioned  by  Mr.  Mon- 


^^ 

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fa'  ^  ■■■■■ 

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u  t. 

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■Hj^lLf    1 

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CHOIR  OF  SGAW  KAREN  HIGH  SCHOOL 
Bassein,  Burma 


KAREN  PREACHERS 
At  Sgaw  Karen  Association,  Bassein,  Burma 


The  Karens  of  Burma  65 

tagu  in  a  communication  to  the  Governor  of  Burma  as 
a  man  who  he  especially  desired  should  serve  on  the  in- 
vestigating committee.  There  is  Sidney  Luni,  of  Ran- 
goon, Barrister  at  Law,  educated  in  Burma  and  England, 
a  layman  held  in  high  esteem  by  the  Karen  race.  Thra 
Po  Gyaw,  the  wise  and  tactful  boarding-master  of  Gush- 
ing High  School,  is  an  able  teacher  and  a  man  of  deep 
and  active  Christian  spirit.  A  year  ago  he  did  much 
to  win  a  Karen  carpenter  to  Christ.  That  carpenter  went 
back  to  his  village  and  did  much  in  persuading  the  village 
to  come  into  the  Christian  church  with  him.  With  several 
others,  Thra  Po  Gyaw  made  a  number  of  trips  to  the 
village.  Up  to  the  present,  forty  people  have  been  bap- 
tized, and  a  church  has  been  organized.  Thra  Po  Gyaw 
and  a  friend  gave  a  large  part  of  their  vacation  time  in 
this  center.  A  number  of  the  teachers  in  Gushing  High 
School  devoted  large  parts  of  their  time  during  vacation 
to  evangelistic  touring  with  splendid  results.  Mention 
should  also  be  made  of  Thra  Toe  Khut,  the  efficient  head 
master  of  the  Maubin  School,  member  of  the  municipal 
committee  and  of  the  educational  board  of  the  Irrawaddy 
circle,  and  the  President-elect  of  the  Burma  Baptist  Con- 
vention ;  of  Miss  Nellie  Yaba,  educated  in  Burma  and 
America,  and  for  several  years  in  charge  of  the  mission 
station  at  Pyapon;  of  Ma  Sein  Shin,  a  young  woman 
of  unusual  ability,  daughter  of  the  pastor  of  the  Pwo 
Karen  Baptist  church  of  Bassein,  who,  having  completed 
her  studies  in  Judson  College,  is  now  studying  in  the 
Woman's  Christian  College  in  Madras ;  and  of  Mg  Myat 
Pon,  the  treasurer  of  Judson  College,  a  layman  of  most 
pleasing  personal  presence  and  of  outstanding  ability. 
Space  will  not  permit  telling  of  all  these  men  and  women 
who  are  thoroughly  interested  in  and  devoted  to  the  exten- 
sion of  the  kingdom  of  God  among  the  Karens. 


66  Following  the  Pioneers 

Under  God  the  Karens  are  today  the  dominant  factor 
in  the  triumphant  progress  of  our  Baptist  work  in  Burma. 
Granting  all  the  good  that  there  is  in  religions  of  the  East, 
centuries  have  demonstrated  their  inability  to  build  char- 
acter that  can  meet  the  needs  of  the  new  day.  The  whole 
present  trend  of  events  is  preparing  the  way  for  another 
great  mass  movement  among  the  Karens  toward  Chris- 
tianity. The  Karen  is  an  evangelist  and  a  missionary. 
He  will  cooperate  and  sacrifice  for  great  ideals.  The 
Karen  has  been,  is  still,  and  will  continue  to  be  the 
largest  factor  in  the  evangelization  of  the  hill-tribes, 
many  of  which  are  related  to  him.  They  have  already 
undertaken  this  great  task,  and  will  never  put  it  down 
until  they  lay  the  shining  crown  of  victory  at  the  Master's 
feet.  Chin,  Kachin,  Lahu,  Wa,  and  a  multitude  of 
others  will  follow  the  Christian  Karen  into  the  fellowship 
of  God,  united  and  welded  into  one  great  Christian 
brotherhood,  uplifted,  educated,  trusted.  Truth  and 
character  are  bound  to  make  themselves  felt  as  deter- 
mining forces  in  the  new  Burma.  In  conclusion,  we  must 
not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  there  is  a  rapidly  growing 
and  virile  Burman  church,  tremendously  reenforced  and 
encouraged  by  the  example  and  comradeship  of  their 
Christian  Karen  brothers.  Christianity  is  stronger  than 
race  prejudice.  It  breaks  down  every  wall  and  partition. 
The  Christian  Burman  casts  off  his  former  air  of  supe- 
riority and  gladly  accepts  the  accomplishment  of  his 
Karen  brother.  They  have  been  classmates  together  in 
school.  The  Karen  has  in  this  mingling  made  many 
close  friends  among  the  Burmans,  and  one  of  the  marvels 
of  Christianity  is  the  leveling  and  fraternizing  so  neces- 
sary to  this  cooperation  and  brotherhood.  Centuries  of 
Buddhism  never  have  been  able  to  accomplish  this,  and 
in  contrast   see   what   Christianity  has   in  a   few  years 


The  Karens  of  Burma  67 

made  possible  as  exemplified  in  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Burma  Baptist  Convention  where  all  races,  Karens,  Bur- 
mans,  Kachins,  Chins,  Shans,  meet  in  beautiful  coopera- 
tion and  fellowship,  undertaking  together  great  things 
for  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  Burma 
and  in  all  the  world. 


IV 
BURMA:  TO  ALL  PEOPLES 


"  The  string  of  camels  come  in  single  file, 
Bearing  their  burdens  o'er  the  desert  sand; 

Swiftly  the  boats  go  plying  on  the  Nile, 
The  needs  of  men  are  met  on  every  hand. 

But  still  I  wait 

For  the  messenger  of  God  who  cometh  late, 

"  I  see  the  cloud  of  dust  rise  in  the  plain. 

The  measured  tread  of  troops  falls  on  the  ear; 

The  soldier  comes  the  Empire  to  maintain, 
Bringing  the  pomp  of  war,  the  reign  of  fear. 

But  still  I  wait; 

The  messenger  of  Peace,  he  cometh  late. 

"  They  set  me  looking  o'er  the  desert  drear, 

Where  broodeth  darkness  as  the  deepest  night. 

From  many  a  mosque  there  comes  the  call  to  prayer ; 
I  hear  no  voice  that  calls  on  Christ  for  light. 

But  still  I  wait 

For  the  messenger  of  Christ  who  cometh  late." 

-Anon.,  in  Egyptian  Mission  News,  January-February,  1910. 


BURMA :  TO  ALL  PEOPLES 


The  vision,  faith,  and  evangeHstic  passion  of  the 
pioneers,  together  with  the  zeal  of  the  Christians  of 
Burma,  especially  the  Karens,  have  pushed  our  Baptist 
work  to  the  far  frontiers  of  Burma,  and  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  Shans,  Kachins,  Chins,  Lisus,  and  Lahus 
have  heard  the  story  of  the  Cross  and  have  been  won 
to  Christ  and  brought  into  the  church. 

The  Shans 

The  Shans,  because  of  their  numbers  and  long  racial 
history,  are  one  of  the  most  important  groups  in  Burma. 
There  are  a  million  Shans  located  chiefly  in  the  Northern 
and  Southern  Shan  States  of  Burma  and  in  Southern 
Yunnan  China.  The  Shan  States  are  ruled  by  their  local 
chiefs  or  Sawbwas,  subject  to  the  supervision  of  the 
Superintendent,  a  British  official.  The  early  history  of 
the  Shan  Mission  is  a  story  of  heroism,  courage,  and 
faith.  Bixby,  Brown,  Cushing — giants  lived  in  those 
days.  Scholars,  translators,  pioneers,  they  blazed  the 
path  into  the  heart  of  Shan  land  that  we  of  a  later  genera- 
tion have  found  it  difficult  to  follow. 

In  November,  1877,  Doctor  Rose  and  Rev.  J.  N.  Cush- 
ing started  from  Toungoo,  the  early  headquarters  of  the 
Shan  Mission,  on  a  journey  of  exploration  into  the  far 
Shan  countrv' .  They  first  went  to  Mandalay  and  secured 
a  royal  pass  from  Mindon  Min,  the  Burman  king,  and 
then  on  a  four  months'  trip  penetrated  far  into  the  Shan 
States  and  visited  the  important  city  of  Mongnai,  where 

71 


72  Following  the  Pioneers 

we  have  today  one  of  our  principal  Shan  stations.    Doctor 
Rose  thus  describes  the  results  of  this  trip : 

The  Royal  Pass.  The  pass  was  written  on  a  narrow  strip  of 
palm-leaf,  about  four  feet  long,  and  carried  in  a  bamboo  covered 
with  red  cloth.  The  very  sight  of  the  red-cloth-covered  bamboo 
was  enough  to  secure  the  respect  of  the  people.  The  "  royal  pass  " 
was  even  more  important  than  we  had  anticipated.  Without  a 
pass  we  could  not  have  traveled  through  the  country.  Without 
such  a  peculiar  pass  as  we  had,  we  would  not  have  been  allowed 
to  preach  and  give  tracts.  We  carried  no  large  books,  but  had 
one  pony  loaded  entirely  with  a  good  assortment  of  our  best 
tracts. 

We  journeyed  through  not  less  than  ten  Shan  States  or  Tsaub- 
waships ;  six  or  seven  of  these  were  large,  the  others  small ; 
altogether,  about  as  large  as  New  England.  This  is  only  a 
part,  and  I  may  say  a  small  part,  of  the  Shan  country. 

Not  only  did  they  suffer  us  to  preach,  but  in  their  public  courts, 
palaces,  and  dwellings,  asked  us  to  preach.  It  was  our  privilege 
in  large  towns  to  preach  to  large  companies,  the  Tsaubwa  or 
governor  in  front,  with  the  nobles  and  court  officials  among  the 
listeners.  The  people  listened  with  attention,  and  treated  us  with 
respect  and  often  with  kindness. 

Thousands  of  these  peoples  for  the  first  time  have  heard  of 
the  Eternal  God.^ 

In  1869,  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Gushing  made  another  long 
journey  to  Kengtung.  I  made  this  trip  in  February,  1922. 
How  much  more  difficult  it  must  have  been  for  Doctor 
and  Mrs.  Gushing  in  1869  !    It  required  four  months. 

The  Shan  work  is  most  difficult.  The  Shans  are  Bud- 
dhists, but  their  Buddhism  is  more  largely  colored  with 
animism  and  nat-worship  than  that  of  the  Buddhists  in 
lower  Burma.  We  have  today  five  Shan  fields :  Mongnai, 
with  an  area  of  15,000  square  miles  and  a  population 
of  200,000;  Kengtung,  area,  12,000  square  miles,  popula- 
tion, 190,000;  Taunggyi,  area,  7,000  square  miles,  popula- 

^  "  Life  of  Josiah  Nelson  Gushing,"  by  Wallace  St.  John. 


Burma :  To  All  Peoples  73 

tion,  180,000;  Hsipaw,  area,  9,700  square  miles,  popula- 
tion 170,000;  and  Namkham,  area,  6,330  square  miles, 
population,  120,000.  Both  Kengtung  and  Namkham  have 
large  Shan  populations  across  the  borders  in  China  which 
greatly  increase  and  enlarge  the  area  and  population  of 
these  fields.  We  have  practically  abandoned  Hsipaw  and 
have  no  Shan  missionaries  at  Kengtung.  From  the  cen- 
tral station  in  Mongnai  and  a  substation,  Loilem,  Doctor 
Gibbons  is  working  alone  as  evangelist,  educationalist, 
and  physician.  His  medical  work  has  been  a  blessing  to 
a  large  district,  the  schools  are  evangelistic,  and  the 
church  already  accepts  a  larger  measure  of  responsibility. 
Doctor  Harper  at  Namkham,  in  addition  to  his  medical 
and  evangelistic  work,  has  an  important  industrial  work 
for  the  Shans,  including  carpentry  and  weaving.  A  mul- 
berry-garden of  about  eight  acres  has  been  planted,  and 
in  time  we  hope  to  see  the  cultivation  of  silk  on  a  large 
scale  among  the  Christian  Shans.  An  official  report  of 
the  Northern  Shan  States  reads : 

The  local  government's  thanks  are  to  R.  Harper,  M.  D.,  of  the 
American  Baptist  Mission,  for  his  medical  work  among  the  Shans 
and  Kachins  in  the  country  around  Namkham  as  also  for  his  seri- 
cultural  experiments. 

Medical  work  Is  proving  an  effective  Christian  agency 
among  the  Shans.  Here  we  find,  roughly  speaking,  peo- 
ple with  but  the  most  meager  provision  for  the  relief 
of  bodily  needs.    Doctor  Henderson  writes  as  follows: 

Things  which  are  usfed  in  medicine  and  which  I  have  per- 
sonally known  to  be  sought  for  this  purpose  are  elephant's,  blood, 
rhinoceros'  horn,  bears'  gall,  the  soft  hoof  of  an  unborn  colt, 
the  foot  of  a  wildcat,  the  liver  of  a  man  who  had  committed 
suicide,  besides  various  roots  and  stones.  .  .  Superstition  too  wraps 
its  chilly  bonds  of  terror  about  these  people's  lives.    Trees,  ponds, 


74  Following  the  Pioneers 

hills,  and  rocks  are  peopled  by  evil  spirits  who  are  constantly  on 
the  watch  to  injure  and  destroy  men  and  women.  A  woman  went 
out  to  the  jungle  to  get  wood.  She  slipped  and  broke  her  ankle. 
When  she  managed  to  get  home  it  was  vigorously  massaged  to 
drive  out  the  evil  spirit.  Many  a  single  person  or  whole  family 
have  been  hounded  out  of  a  village  or  killed  because  they  have 
been  held  responsible  for  some  illness  which,  as  witches,  they 
had  caused.  How  great  the  opportunity  to  do  the  blessed  work 
of  Christ.  Here  we  find  people  filled  with  malaria.  We  find 
tuberculosis,  bronchitis,  both  acute  and  chronic,  leprosy,  specific 
diseases,  skin  disease,  all  sorts  of  parasites — one  big  welter  of 
people  needing  help  and  with  no  prospects  of  hope  except  as 
Christians  hear  the  voice  of  God  and,  forgetting  themselves,  go  to 
the  help  of  those  who  are  suffering. 

The  Shan  Mission  needs  reenforcements  most  urgently. 
We  need  a  physician  for  Namkham  to  take  the  place  of 
Dr.  Robert  Harper,  who  will  have  to  retire  in  a  year  or 
two.  We  need  a  doctor  and  evangelist  for  the  Shan 
Mission  in  Kengtung,  where  we  have  a  good  hospital 
building,  two  residences,  and  school  buildings  in  this  im- 
portant Shan  city  in  the  center  of  a  large  Shan  population. 
We  should  reopen  Hsipaw  or  another  station  in  the  Shan 
country. 

This  important  people  must  be  evangelized  if  we  are 
to  measure  up  to  our  full  responsibility  in  Burma.  Dr. 
Ola  Hanson,  our  great  Kachin  missionary,  says: 

The  Shans  have  contributed  much  to  the  Kachins  both  in 
vocabulary  and  in  general  ways  of  thinking,  and  their  influence 
is  an  important  factor  in  the  development  of  the  Lahus  and  the 
other  hill-tribes. 

Doctor  Henderson  and  other  devoted  Shan  missionaries 
who  know  the  people  and  the  field,  assure  me  that  they 
are  positive  that  if  we  could  adequately  man  the  field,  the 
next  decade  would  show  most  hopeful  results. 

A  general  summary  of  conditions  among  the   Shans 


Burma :  To  All  Peoples  75 

may  be  gathered  from  the  following  quotation  from  Doc- 
tor Henderson's  report : 

The  report  of  the  year  shows  steady  growth  in  all  directions, 
but  we  look  forward  to  the  day  when  there  shall  be  an  earnest 
and  concerted  effort  to  win  the  Shans  to  Christ.  Political  changes 
are  many  and  swift.  The  Shan  States  are  to  be  formed  into  a 
federation  and  ruled  from  Taunggyi  rather  than  from  Lower 
Burma.  The  railway  is  being  pushed  up  nearer  and  nearer 
Taunggyi,  while  the  stream  of  trade  is  constantly  growing.  Every- 
thing, therefore,  should  be  done  to  push  the  work  in  this  center, 
and  in  the  Shan  States  generally  Christianity  must  not  lag  behind 
the  trader  and  the  government ;  rather  it  should  be  in  the  van, 
purifying  and  uplifting  the  whole  surroundings,  lest  material 
progress  spell  a  curse  instead  of  a  blessing. 

The  Kachins 

The  Kachins  are  a  hardy,  warlike,  independent  people. 
Their  present  home  is  in  the  wild  mountains  of  Northern 
Burma,  through  which  flow  numerous  mountain  streams, 
tributaries  to  the  great  Burman.  rivers,  Irrawaddy  and 
Salween.  Doctor  Hanson,  in  his  book  *'  The  Kachins," 
says: 

The  birthplace  of  the  race  must  be  sought  among  the  highlands 
of  Mongolia  and  on  the  border-land  of  eastern  Tibet  and  western 
Szchuan.  Here  stood  the  cradle,  not  only  of  the  Kachins,  but 
also  of  the  Burmans  and  other  Mongolian  tribes.  At  a  remote 
period  the  Burmans  began  to  move  southward  and  lay  the  founda- 
tions of  mighty  kingdoms.  Later,  smaller  tribes  like  the  Chins, 
Nagas,  Lahus,  and  possibly  the  Karens,  followed  in  their  wake, 
the  Kachins  holding  a  central  position. 

The  Kachins  are  an  independent  and  sturdy  people. 
There  is  nothing  cringing  or  servile  about  them.  They 
have  never  been  slaves  or  tributary  to  any  one.  The 
Kachin  regards  himself  as  lord  of  all  he  surveys,  and 
holds  both  Burman  and  Shan  in  contempt.     He  has  a 


76  Following  the  Pioneers 

keen  sense  of  his  personal  rights  and  resents  anything 
that  interferes  with  his  Uberty.  Such  interference  or  any- 
thing Hke  an  insult  may  easily  lead  to  a  long  quarrel  and 
bloodshed.  In  December,  1876,  a  young  Sgaw  Karen 
Christian  from  Bassein,  Bogalay  by  name,  sent  out  and 
supported  by  the  Sgaw  Karen  Christians  of  Bassein,  with 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Cushing,  opened  the  Kachin  mission  at 
Bhamo.  Today  we  have  1,440  Kachin  Christians  organ- 
ized into  thirty-seven  churches  and  twenty-eight  day- 
schools  with  797  pupils.  The  work  of  this  Mission  is 
most  hopeful,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
it  soon  will  be  entirely  self-supporting.  Doctor  Hanson, 
the  veteran  missionary  of  the  Kachins,  has  done  a  notable 
service  in  reducing  the  Kachin  language  to  writing  and 
in  translating  the  Scriptures,  school-books,  and  other 
literature  for  these  people.  His  literary  work,  together 
with  his  notable  service  to  the  Kachins,  has  been  recog- 
nized by  the  British  Government,  and  in  1917  he  was 
awarded  the  Kaisar-i-Hind  gold  medal.  Doctor  Hanson 
thus  concludes  his  notable  book  on  the  Kachins : 

The  Kachin  language  having  been  reduced  to  writing,  therfe  is 
the  beginning  of  a  literature,  and  the  number  learning  to  read 
and  write  is  constantly  on  the  increase.  Nearly  all  the  books 
printed  are  of  a  religious  nature  and  for  the  advance  of  the 
Christian  religion  and  Christian  education.  Most  likely  the  Kachin 
literature  will  never  be  large.  Most  of  those  who  learn  to 
read  will  also  acquire  Burmese,  and  thus  come  in  contact  with  a 
richer  store  of  knowledge. 

Several  hundred  young  men  from  all  parts  of  Kachin  land  have 
served  in  the  Kachin  Military  Police,  and  thus  come  in  contact 
with  a  side  of  life  unknown  to  them  before.  This  too  has  been, 
and  is,  a  civilizing  agency.  The  military  discipline,  the  necessity 
of  doing  things  according  to  rules  and  orders,  are  things  new 
to  the  lawless  hill-men,  and  must  have  a  wholesome  effect.  Many 
of  them  have  also  in  the  barracks  learned  to  read  the  written 
Kachin   and  acquired  other  useful   knowledge.     Thus   when  re- 


Burma :  To  All  Peoples  77 

turning    to    their    mountain    homes    they    carry    with    them    new 
ideas  of  the  world  and  its  ways. 

These  influences  are  doing  their  work  quietly  but  surely.  A 
Kachin  people  is  growing  up  in  ways  unknown  to  their  forefathers. 
They  will  identify  themselves  with  the  larger  life  of  upper  Burma. 
As  they  accept  more  of  a  Christian  education,  and  leave  their  old 
superstitions  behind  them,  the  natural  advance  will  be  toward  a 
Christian  civilization. 

The  Chins 

The  Chins  are  a  hill-people  in  the  Northwest  of  Burma. 
Our  principal  Chin  stations  are  Haka  and  Thayetmyo, 
and  an  important  work  for  Chins  is  also  being  carried  on 
in  Pyinmana  and  Pegu. 

The  work  at  Haka  was  opened  by  Rev.  and  Mrs.  A.  E. 
Carson  in  1899.  In  1920,  after  long  years  of  continuous 
service  marked  by  privation,  danger,  sacrifice,  dauntless 
courage,  and  faith,  Mrs.  Carson,  this  heroine  of  modern 
missions,  left  alone,  returned  to  America.  Mr.  Cope, 
the  missionary  at  Haka,  gives  a  graphic  picture  of  these 
years  and  their  fruitage : 

Mrs.  Carson  came  to  Haka  twenty-one  years  ago.  She  has 
passed  through  two  rebellions  and  has  suffered  no  end  of  dis- 
tressing and  trying  experiences,  the  hardest  of  all  being  the  loss 
of  Mr.  Carson,  who  was  the  first  missionary  to  the  Chins.  Twenty- 
one  years  ago,  there  were  not  only  no  Christians,  but  the  very 
name  was  practically  unknown ;  now  there  are  over  seven  hundred 
baptized  believers.  There  are  six  mission  schools.  Two  com- 
pounds with  comfortable  residences,  a  fine  school,  and  a  well- 
equipped  hospital,  are  the  work  of  Mr.  Carson  and  his  successors. 
Over  twenty  workers,  Chin  and  Karen,  are  carrying  on  among 
several  tribes  the  work  of  preaching  and  teaching.  There  are 
hymn-books  in  four  dialects,  parts  of  Scripture  in  four,  and 
a  monthly  paper  in  one.  The  two  final  tasks  which  have  occupied 
Mrs.  Carson's  time  for  years  now  have  just  been  completed,  the 
dictionary  and  a  translation  of  the  historical  books  of  the  New 
Testament.     These   works    are    invaluable.      Probably   the   most 


78  Following  the  Pioneers 

precious  farewell  remembrances  were  the  twenty-three  baptisms 
the  last  Sunday  in  Haka.  A  majority  of  these  were  the  result  of 
the  preaching  of  the  first  convert  in  Haka,  baptized  by  Mr.  Carson 
in  1906. 

The  Talaings 

The  Talaings,  with  their  capital  at  Pegu,  were  once 
the  dominant  people  in  southern  Burma.  They  were  sub- 
jugated, however,  by  the  Burmans  in  1753.  Our  work 
for  the  Talaings  centers  in  Moulmein  where,  in  addition 
to  schools  and  churches,  we  have  the  Ellen  Mitchell 
Memorial  Hospital,  which  in  the  name  of  the  Great 
Physician  ministers  to  the  women  and  children  of  all 
races.  There  is  here  a  leper  asylum  with  fifty-eight  lepers, 
and  the  Master's  injunction  to  "  heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the 
lepers  "  is  literally  fulfilled.  There  are  five  churches  with 
a  membership  of  450. 

Indians 

There  are  more  than  1,000,000  Indians  in  Burma. 
More  than  one-half  the  three  hundred  thousand  in  Ran- 
goon, the  capital  and  principal  city  of  Burma,  are  In- 
dians. When  the  projected  railroad  connecting  Burma 
and  India  is  built,  increasing  numbers  will  pour  into  this 
rich  province  from  the  overcrowded,  sun-burned,  famine- 
stricken  districts  of  India.  Not  only  are  Indians  laborers, 
and  railroad  employees,  but  many  of  them  are  leading 
men  in  Rangoon  and  Burma.  Our  Burma  mission  is  thor- 
oughly alive  to  this  situation,  and  we  have  important 
centers  for  Indian  work  with  resident  missionaries,  school 
and  church  buildings  in  Rangoon  and  Moulmein.  In  Ran- 
goon and  Moulmein  we  have  erected  brick  school  build- 
ings. In  Rangoon  there  are  eight  hundred  Indian  boys 
and  girls  in  attendance,  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  in 
Moulmein.     There  is  also  work  for  Indians  in  many  of 


Burma :  To  All  Peoples  79 

our  other  stations,  extending  from  Tavoy  on  the  far  south 
to  Myitkyina  on  the  Chinese  border  in  the  north.  There 
is  great  need  for  more  missionaries  for  the  Indians  in 
Burma.  The  pathetic  feature  of  the  situation  is  that 
many  cooHes  coming  to  this  land  have  been  humble  Baptist 
Christians  in  their  own  villages,  but  like  sheep  without  a 
shepherd,  know  not  where  to  turn  for  spiritual  help  over 
here  and  often  fall  away.  Moreover,  among  the  non- 
Christian  caste  people  a  much  more  open-minded  spirit  is 
found  than  among  the  same  people  in  their  own  land. 
The  hand  of  caste  and  custom  does  not  grip  them  as 
strongly,  and  they  are  more  ready,  not  only  to  listen  to 
the  gospel  and  assent  to  its  precepts,  but  to  come  out 
openly  for  Christ 

Chinese 

There  are  350,000  Chinese  in  Burma.  They  are  open- 
minded,  energetic,  generous.  Away  from  their  home  and 
entangling  customs,  they  are  peculiarly  susceptible  to  the 
Christian  message.  These  men  are  carpenters,  merchants, 
and  skilled  mechanics.  They  are  a  thrifty,  industrious 
people  and  are  an  increasingly  important  factor  in  the 
life  of  the  province.  Work  among  them  will  be  largely 
self-supporting.  In  Mandalay  the  Chinese  Baptists  have 
raised  Rs.  4,000  which,  with  a  like  amount  contributed  by 
the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society,  is  en- 
abling them  to  erect  a  building  In  this  important  city  for 
the  Chinese  work.  We  now  have  four  Chinese  evangel- 
ists, but  the  work,  which  is  rapidly  extending  through- 
out the  province,  needs  a  missionary  familiar  with  the 
Chinese  language  who  can  give  his  entire  time  to  shep- 
herding the  people  and  supervising  the  Chinese  work. 
When  I  was  in  Burma  in  October,  1921,  a  group  of 
Chinese  Baptists  presented  me  with  the  following  petition  : 


80  Following  the  Pioneers 


To  the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society, 

Dear  Sirs  :  For  four  years  we  have  been  promised  a  missionary, 
and  we  have  lived  in  hopes,  waiting  patiently  all  this  time.  Now 
that  Mr.  Grigg  has  been  moved  to  Mandalay  when  we  were 
promised  his  services,  and  no  new  and  young  man  has  been  as- 
sured us  in  his  stead,  we  the  Chinese  Christians  of  Rangoon 
are  greatly  disappointed. 

We  have  about  50,000  Chinese  in  Rangoon  and  350,000  Chinese 
in  all  Burma.  There  is  a  big  and  needy  field  for  the  ablest 
missionary.  The  Methodists  have  only  a  small  work,  and  there  is 
plenty  of  room  for  both.  We  greatly  need  the  help  and  counsel 
of  a  missionary  if  we  would  have  our  Baptist  work  grow  as  it 
ought  to  grow.  Our  people  are  ready  and  opfen  for  hearing  the 
gospel.  We,  therefore,  pray  that  you  will  not  delay  any  longer 
and  cause  discouragement  to  our  people.  We  earnestly  seek 
and  pray  for  a  missionary  this  year. 

(Signed)  Chinese  Baptist  Pastor 

and  sixty  of  the  members. 

Anglo-Indians 

The  Anglo-Indian  holds  a  peculiarly  important  and 
delicate  position.  Rev.  F.  King  Singiser,  formerly  pastor 
of  the  Immanuel  Baptist  Church  in  Rangoon,  a  man  who 
knows  the  Anglo-Indians  most  intimately,  thus  speaks  of 
this  important  community: 

In  civic  life  the  Anglo-Indians  of  Burma  are  a  powerful  people, 
holding  positions  of  high  trust  and  executive  responsibility.  In 
the  Government  service  they  have  become  commissioners,  district 
superintendents,  and  members  of  the  Legislative  Council.  During 
my  pastorate  in  Rangoon  the  Accountant  General  of  Burma,  in 
charge  of  all  the  finances  of  this  the  richest  province  in  the 
Indian  Empire,  was  an  Anglo-Indian,  Mr.  Dukoff  Gordon,  a  gen- 
tleman of  rare  charm  and  culture.  The  permanent  administrator 
of  the  great  city  of  Rangoon  is  Mr.  C.  C.  Cameron,  an  Anglo- 
Indian  of  such  unusual  administrative  ability  as  to  receive  the 
official  recognition  of  the  Viceroy,  Lord  Chelmsford.  Both  of 
these  men  are  loyal  members  of  our  Baptist  church. 


Burma :  To  All  Peoples  81 

In  education  the  Anglo-Indians  have  long  since  been  recog- 
nized as  a  determinative  factor.  Constituted  as  they  are  by  an- 
cestry, interpreting  the  Oriental  and  the  Occidental  mind  with 
equal  facility,  and  having  the  gift  of  languages,  they  are  naturally 
qualified  leaders  of  the  thought  life.  They  hold  many  of  the 
most  responsible  positions  in  the  mission  schools  of  Burma.  In 
the  Government's  Department  of  Instruction  they  have  risen  to 
the  highest  position,  that  of  Director  of  Public  Instruction.  The 
first  inspectress  of  schools  in  Burma  is  an  Anglo-Indian  woman, 
who  was  a  member  of  our  own  Judson  College  faculty. 

In  Rangoon  we  have  an  Anglo-Indian  church  with  a 
membership  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  and  a  Sun- 
day school  of  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  pastor  of  this 
church  is  Rev.  V.  E.  Dyer,  a  graduate  of  Colby  College 
and  Newton  Theological  Institution.  This  church  is 
practically  self-supporting.  We  have  also  in  Rangoon 
a  Boys'  Anglo-Indian  High  School  with  an  enrolment 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty.  In  Moulmein  there  is  the 
English  Girls'  High  School  and  the  Anglo-Indian  church. 
Rev.  William  G.  Evans,  formerly  of  the  Trinity  Bap- 
tist Church  of  Cleveland,  is  pastor.  At  Maymyo,  the 
summer  capital  of  the  province,  where  there  is  a  large 
Anglo-Indian  population,  we  have  our  third  church,  with 
Rev.  H.  P.  Cochrane,  former  missionary  at  Pyapon, 
pastor. 

Lahu  Work 

When  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Gushing  were  in  Kengtung  in 
1869  he  wrote : 

At  the  house  we  were  visited  by  Lahus,  a  savage  tribe  who 
live  three  or  four  days  to  the  north.  The  more  southern  part  of 
this  people  have  been  subjected  to  the  rule  of  the  Sawbwa  at 
Kengtung,  but  the  more  northern  portions  are  still  unsubdued. 
They  worship  nats  and  offer  human  heads  to  them.  When  they 
wish  to  make  such  offerings  they  watch  behind  trees  and  spear 
the  stray  traveler,  and  take  the  heads  home  for  this  purpose. 


82  Following  the  Pioneers 

Our  work  among  the  Lahus  was  begun  by  Rev.  W.  M. 
Young  in  1901,  and  since  then  thousands  of  the  Lahus 
have  accepted  Christianity.  In  February  and  March, 
1922,  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  visit  this  field  and  inspect 
this  work.  For  forty-one  days  we  were  away  from  the 
railway,  newspapers,  letters,  telegrams,  and  all  communi- 
cations with  the  outside  world.  We  traveled  nearly  six 
hundred  miles  on  horseback  and  had  the  opportunity 
of  seeing  personally  a  mass  movement  toward  Chris- 
tianity of  surpassing  interest.  We  left  Rangoon  Wednes- 
day, February  8,  for  Kengtung  and  Yunnan,  China. 
Our  party  consisted  of  Dr.  C.  A.  Nichols,  of  the  Sgaw 
Karen  Bassein  mission,  Rev.  W.  E.  Wiatt,  the  Field 
Secretary  for  Burma,  Mr.  Ralph  Henderson,  and  the 
Foreign  Secretary.  From  the  rail-head  at  Taunggyi, 
we  traveled  two  days  in  Ford  cars,  riding  144  miles, 
nearly  all  of  it  over  mountain  roads.  Late  Saturday 
afternoon  we  met  the  saddle-ponies  and  ten  pack-ponies 
for  the  150-mile  trip  from  the  Nampang  River  to  Keng- 
tung. For  eight  days  we  spent  from  four  to  nine  hours 
in  the  saddle,  and  arrived  at  Kengtung  on  the  eighteenth. 

The  Lahus 

Kengtung  State,  with  a  population  of  600,000,  is  the 
largest  of  the  Southern  Shan  States.  The  capital,  where 
our  mission  is  located,  is  a  city  of  15,000.  The  native 
ruling  Prince,  the  Sawbwa,  lives  here.  Kengtung  State 
occupies  the  great  salient  where  Burma  reaches  out  to 
Siam  and  China,  and  streams  of  influence  from  China, 
Siam,  Tibet,  and  Burma  give  it  a  cosmopolitan  charac- 
ter. Shans,  Burmans,  Chinese,  Indians,  Kaws,  Was,  and 
other  hill-people  live  in  little  hilltop  villages  throughout 
the  wooded  mountains  of  the  State.  The  Lahu  Associa- 
tion was  in  session  when  we  arrived.     Eight  hundred 


Burma :  To  All  Peoples  83 

Lahu  and  Wa  Christians  were  present.  I  was  impressed 
with  the  practical  nature  of  the  topics  discussed  during 
the  three  days  of  the  Association :  "  Our  schools,  how 
can  w^e  improve  them?"  "The  Lahu  Christian  village 
as  an  example  of  unity  and  industry  " ;  "  Education  and 
the  ministry  " ;  "  The  need  and  the  call  to  evangelize  " ; 
"  The  support  of  evangelistic  work."  The  chairman  of 
the  Association  is  Saya  Po  Tun,  a  missionary  of  the 
Karens  among  the  Lahus.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Bassein  Sgaw-Karen  High  School,  and  has  spent  fifteen 
years  in  the  Kengtung  field.  He  speaks  fluently  Karen, 
Burmese,  Shan,  Lahu,  Kaw,  and  English,  and  under- 
stands Chinese  and  Wa.  He  is  a  musician  of  marked 
ability,  and  has  translated  or  composed  more  than  one 
hundred  hymns.  He  has  translated  the  entire  New  Tes- 
tament into  Lahu. 

The  Lahus  are  a  hill-people  and  dislike  to  send  their 
children  to  school  in  the  plains.  The  mission  has  secured 
three  hundred  acres  at  Loimwe,  a  beautiful  mountain 
village  and  headquarters  for  the  British  Government, 
located  fifteen  miles  from  Kengtung  on  a  good  automobile 
road.  The  land  we  have  secured  is  three  miles  from 
the  village  and  on  a  slightly  lower  elevation.  The  soil  is 
very  rich,  and  an  industrial  school  here  in  their  beloved 
hills  would  be  popular  w^ith  the  Lahus.  would  improve 
their  economic  condition,  and  make  possible  a  further  step 
toward  self-support.  Last  year  a  Lahu  teacher  w'ith  a 
number  of  boys  spent  several  weeks  clearing  the  land  and 
planting  crops.    A  splendid  harvest  resulted. 

These  people  are  making  a  real  advance  in  the  matter 
of  self-support.  They  built  their  own  chapel  and  school- 
houses.  Twelve  villages  provide  their  teachers  with  rice, 
and  ten  villages  have  adopted  the  tithing  system.  In 
1921,  in  addition  to  the  support  of  their  own  churches 


84  Following  the  Pioneers 

and  schools,  the  Association  gave  Rs.  900  for  the  Keng- 
tung  central  schools  and  for  the  support  of  evangelists. 
Here  is  the  report  of  one  of  the  village  churches :  Yekko 
Village — population,  180;  church-members,  103;  literate, 
33  (9  girls,  24  boys)  ;  cash  contributions,  Rs.  103 — gave 
to  the  teacher  139  baskets  of  paddy,  87  pounds  of  salt, 
87  pounds  of  cotton. 

We  left  Kengtung,  February  27,  for  Yunnan,  China. 
Doctor  Nichols  having  returned  to  Bassein,  Rev.  J.  H. 
Telford,  the  missionary  at  Kengtung,  accompanied  us. 
From  Kengtung  to  Mong  Lem  there  is  a  hard  mountain 
trail.  As  the  nights  and  mornings  in  the  mountains  were 
very  cold,  we  had  to  carry  not  only  provisions  but  heavy 
clothing  and  a  supply  of  bedding.  We  were  up  every 
morning  at  four  or  four-thirty  and  in  the  saddle  before 
seven  o'clock.  We  would  ride  until  eleven  and  then  rest 
during  the  heat  of  the  day.  Starting  again  in  the  early 
afternoon,  we  would  ride  until  dusk  or  until  we  reached 
a  good  camping-place  with  water,  shelter,  and  pasturage 
for  the  horses.  We  visited  four  Christian  villages  on 
the  way,  all  located  on  high  hills.  We  arrived  at  Bana 
Village,  twenty-five  miles  across  the  border  in  China,  on 
March  3.  Bana  Village  is  a  Christian  community  of  about 
one  hundred  people.  It  is  located  on  a  hill  having  an 
elevation  of  4,000  feet  and  heavily  wooded  with  pines. 
It  is  in  the  center  of  the  Lahu  country,  and  we  propose 
to  establish  a  mission  station  here  for  the  Lahu  work  in 
China. 

The  Lahu  and  Wa  Association  was  in  session  here, 
and  we  had  four  wonderful  days.  The  meetings  were 
held  in  a  big  temporary  building  very  much  like  a  Billy 
Sunday  Tabernacle.  The  Christian  villages  in  the  neigh- 
borhood had  contributed  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
Association  fifteen  steers,   fourteen  hogs,  8,126  pounds 


Burma :  To  All  Peoples  85 

of  rice,  195  pounds  of  salt,  and  90  pounds  of  peppers 
for  the  curry.  The  Was  and  Lahus  of  this  district  are 
accepting  Christianity  by  the  hundreds  and  thousands. 
Mr.  Young  and  his  two  ordained  preachers,  Thra  Mg 
Bu  and  Ainan,  baptized  2,507  between  January  1  and 
March  1,  1922,  making  a  total  of  3,351  baptisms  for  the 
two  years  that  Mr.  Young  has  been  on  this  field.  IMr. 
Young's  assistants  have  each  a  remarkable  story.  Thra 
Mg  Bu,  on  his  graduation  from  the  theological  seminary 
ten  years  ago,  worked  among  the  Lahus  on  the  Keng- 
tung  field  for  several  years  and  learned  to  speak  two  of 
the  languages,  Wa  and  Lahu,  fluently.  Then  he  returned 
to  lower  Burma  as  pastor  of  the  Karen  Church  in  the 
Henzada  field.  In  response  to  a  call  for  him  to  assist 
Mr.  Young,  this  church  of  less  than  one  hundred  mem- 
bers voted  to  give  him  a  year's  leave  of  absence,  at  the 
same  time  continuing  his  salary  and  paying  all  his  travel- 
ing expenses  to  and  from  this  distant  mission  field,  and 
to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  church  during  his  absence. 
Ainan,  formerly  a  Buddhist  priest  and  opium  addict, 
and  later  member  of  a  robber  band,  in  1904  came  to  Keng- 
tung  with  some  Lahu  inquirers  seeking  knowledge  of  the 
new  religion.  For  weeks  he  and  ]\tr.  Young  by  the  help 
of  God  fought  the  opium  habit  and  won.  Later,  when 
Mr.  Young  sent  some  Lahus  into  China  on  a  preaching 
tour,  Ainan  wished  to  accompany  them.  'Mr.  Young  re- 
fused to  baptize  him  because  he  feared  that  he  would  again 
take  up  the  smoking  of  opium.  However,  he  was  allow'ed 
to  accompany  the  workers,  Mr.  Young  agreeing  that  if  he 
held  out  against  the  opium  habit  on  the  tour  and  in  his 
own  village  which  he  would  visit,  he  would  baptize  him 
on  his  return.  He  was  gone  three  months,  living  a  con- 
sistent Christian  life  all  the  time,  and  on  his  return  was 
baptized.     Since  1905  he  has  won  more  than  500  con- 


86  Following  the  Pioneers 

verts  to  Christ.  He  speaks  Tai  Loi,  Shan,  Wa,  Lahu, 
and  Chinese.  He  is  most  apt  in  the  use  of  homely 
illustrations,  a  powerful  preacher  and  a  soul-winner. 

There  are  now  employed  seven  Karens,  twelve  Was, 
two  Lahus,  and  four  Mynchas  as  preachers  and  teachers. 
Salary  for  the  Karens  is  ten  dollars  a  month,  and  for 
the  Was,  Lahus,  and  Mynchas  four  to  six  dollars. 

This  is  a  mass  movement  with  all  the  usual  problems. 
The  principal  motives  that  lead  the  Lahus  to  accept 
Christianity  seem  to  be :  The  fulfilment  of  Lahu  tradi- 
tions which  are  very  similar  to  the  Karen  traditions; 
bettering  their  physical  conditions ;  relief  from  oppression 
by  the  Shans ;  belief  that  the  Christian  God  is  the  only 
true  God;  the  appeal  of  the  Christian  doctrine  of  im- 
mortality. According  to  their  traditions,  God  in  past  ages 
gave  them  his  word  which  they  transcribed  on  a  rice- 
cake.  But  the  one  in  whose  care  they  committed  this  cake, 
one  day  when  hungry  devoured  it,  and  so  the  word  was 
lost.  Their  prophets  told  them,  however,  that  some  day 
the  people  of  Esu  (Esu  and  Peti  were  two  servants  of 
God,  the  former  standing  on  his  right,  the  latter  on  his 
left,  the  one  being  creator  of  the  heavens,  the  other,  of 
the  earth),  would  come  from  the  south  and  bring  back 
the  word.  The  prayer  was  handed  down  by  mouth  from 
generation  to  generation  as  follows : 

The  seed  of  eternal  life  is  with  thee,  O  God.  We,  therefore, 
pray  that  thou  mayest  give  us  that  seed.  Have  mercy  on  thy 
servants,  and  save  us  from  all  different  diseases,  and  give  us 
long  life,  as  long  as  the  rocks  and  hills.  Send  the  children  of 
Esu  to  come  and  help  us. 

With  a  sufficient  number  of  missionaries  and  trained 
teachers  and  preachers  to  occupy  this  field,  10,000  people 
could  be  baptized  and  organized  into  churches  in  the  next 
two  years.    The  New  Testament  has  been  translated  into 


Burma :  To  All  Peoples  87 

Lahu  and  is  ready  for  publication.  The  Lahu  hymn-book 
has  just  been  printed.  A  strong  central  school  is  already 
established  at  Bana  Village,  and  throughout  the  field  an 
eagerness  to  hear  the  gospel  gives  evidence  of  a  ripening 
harvest.  As  an  illustration  of  this  eagerness,  Pu  San 
Lone,  a  great  Wa  leader,  familiar  with  Lahu  traditions 
and  worship,  seventeen  years  ago  sent  five  ponies  to  Mr. 
Young,  then  at  Kengtung,  and  asked  him  to  come  and 
visit  him  and  preach  in  the  village.  Mr.  Young  was 
unable  to  visit  this  village,  but  sent  a  Shan  Bible  and 
later  some  tracts.  This  leader,  a  short  time  before  he 
was  killed,  gave  the  Bible  to  a  Wa  chieftain.  This 
chieftain,  who  controls  a  number  of  villages  with  a  total 
of  2,000  houses,  recently  sent  ^Ir.  Young  a  pair  of 
Chinese  shoes,  a  piece  of  beeswax,  some  cloth,  and  six 
rupees  in  money,  urging  him  to  come  to  the  villages 
and  preach  to  his  people  the  True  Way.  The  beeswax 
was  to  lighten  the  way  on  his  journey,  the  shoes  were  for 
him  to  wear,  the  cloth  to  wipe  the  perspiration  from  his 
brow,  and  the  money  to  buy  the  necessary  food  for  the 
journey.  Mr.  Young  regrets  that  he  cannot  go  to  this  man 
at  once,  as  his  policy  now  is  to  confine  his  efforts  largely 
to  those  villages  which  have  already  become  Christian, 
and  to  the  follow-up  work  that  has  already  been  started 
in  these  and  the  neighboring  villages. 

As  I  traveled  through  these  villages  and  everywhere 
found  these  people  so  eager  to  hear  the  gospel,  I  prayed 
that  American  Baptists  might  have  the  adequate  faith  and 
courage  to  take  advantage  of  this  unprecedented  oppor- 
tunity. 

Rev.  C.  E.  Chaney  thus  describes  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  Burma  Baptist  Convention  of  1920 : 

In  1920,  the  Burma  Baptist  Convention  met  in  the  city  of 
Mandalay,  the  last  capital  erected  and  occupied  by  Burmese  kings, 


88  Following  the  Pioneers 

the  stronghold  of  Buddhism,  The  old  royal  city  is  surrounded 
by  a  moat  and  a  high  wall.  Entrance  is  gained  by  four  gates, 
one  in  the  center  of  each  side  of  this  city  one  mile  square,  I 
entered  it  and  found  my  way  to  the  old  teak  palaces,  and  there 
stood  before  the  Peacock  Throne,  one  of  three  thrones  in  the 
palace.  My  mind  traveled  back  to  a  former  capital  and  Pea- 
cock Throne  in  the  City  of  Ava.  Its  walls  and  gates  were  gar- 
risoned with  soldiers  armed  to  the  teeth.  The  streets  were  filled 
with  gaily  dressed  ministers  and  officials.  An  embassy  from  the 
great  Empire  of  the  West,  wishing  an  audience  with  the  King, 
were  humiliated  by  being  kept  waiting  and  by  having  to  take 
ofif  their  shoes  when  given  entrance  to  his  Majesty.  An  Ambas- 
sador from  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords  met  with  the 
same  humiliating  experience.  His  gift  of  six  volumes  beautifully 
bound  in  gold,  the  Bible,  was  spurned,  and  his  request  to  preach 
the  unsearchable  riches  of  the  gospel  was  refused.  The  splendor 
and  power  of  an  Oriental  court  is  on  every  side. 

Suddenly  the  scene  changes.  All  the  pomp  and  glory  of  the 
place  fades  away,  and  I  am  left  standing  alone  before  a  dilapidated 
throne  in  a  crumbling  old  palace  of  teak.  Kings  and  potentates 
have  passed  off  the  stage  with  their  gay  retinue  of  ministers  and 
soldiers.  The  segis  of  a  great  Christian  Empire  spreads  its  wings 
over  this  province,  with  protection  and  liberty.  In  the  distance  I 
hear  the  tramping  of  many  feet  and  the  songs  of  many  groups 
in  as  many  tongues.  From  the  north  come  the  Kachins  singing 
to  the  tune,  "  The  Morning  Light  is  Breaking,"  from  the  west 
the  Chins,  singing  to  the  tune,  "  Jesus  Shall  Reign,"  from  the  east 
comes  the  Lahu  choir  which  has  walked  over  three  hundred  miles 
to  attend  this  meeting  and  singing,  "  All  Hail  the  Power  of  Jesus' 
Name,"  and  from  the  south  a  great  host  of  Karens,  Bur  mans, 
and  others,  singing  to  the  tune,  "  Onward,  Christian  Soldiers." 
Into  Mandalay  sweeps  this  great  representative  multitude,  from 
Haka  in  the  north  to  Tavoy  in  the  south,  from  Sandoway  in  the 
west  to  Kengtung  in  the  east,  Chin,  Kachin,  Lahu,  Lisu,  Shan, 
Talaing,  Burman,  Karen,  Chinese,  Indian,  Anglo-Indian,  English- 
men, and  Americans.  The  Burma  Baptist  Convention  is  assem- 
bling, and  from  the  old  watch-tower  on  the  wall,  I  look  out  over 
a  city  with  numberless  chaungs  and  pagodas,  the  insignia  of  the 
old  order,  and  also  dotted  with  mission  schools,  churches,  and  in- 
stitutions which  are  the  insignia  of  the  new  order.  God  Almighty 
has  ordained  that  the  old  order  should  give  place  to  the  new,  and 


Burma :  To  All  Peoples  89 

this  great  host,  3,000  strong,  is  a  stirring  prophecy  that  he  will 
bring  it  to  pass.  Behold,  what  a  change  has  taken  place  since 
that  day  when  Doctor  Judson,  the  Ambassador  of  the  Cross,  stood 
almost  alone  pleading  for  a  place  in  the  inn  for  the  Christ  Child ! 
Today  the  mighty  throng  is  clamoring  to  crown  him  King  of 
kings. 


V 


SOUTH  INDIA:  THE  GOSPEL 
AND  SOCIAL  UPLIFT 


Shine  on,  "  Lone  Star !  "    Thy  radiance  bright 
Shall  spread  o'er  all  the  eastern  sky; 

Morn  breaks  apace  from  gloom  and  night; 
Shine  on,  and  bless  the  pilgrim's  eye 

Shine  on,  "  Lone  Star !  "     I  would  not  dim 
The  light  that  gleams  with  dubious  ray ; 

The  lonely  star  of  Bethlehem 
Led  on  a  bright  and  glorious  day. 

Shine  on,  "  Lone  Star !  "  in  grief  and  tears, 

And  sad  reverses  oft  baptized ; 
Shine  on  amid  thy  sister  spheres ; 

Lone  stars  in  heaven  are  not  despised. 

Shine  on,  "  Lone  Star !  "    Who  lifts  his  hand 
To  dash  to  earth  so  bright  a  gem, 

A  new  "  lost  pleiad  "  from  the  band 
That  sparkles  in  night's  diadem? 

Shine  on,  "  Lone  Star !  "     The  day  draws  near 
When  none  shall  shine  more  fair  than  thou; 

Thou,  born  and  nursed  in  doubt  and  fear, 
Wilt  glitter  on  Immanuel's  brow. 

Shine  on,  "  Lone  Star  !  ''  till  earth  redeemed, 

In  dust  shall  bid  its  idols  fall ; 
And  thousands,  where  thy  radiance  beamed, 

Shall  "  crown  the  Saviour,  Lord  of  all." 


-Dr.  S.  F.  Smith. 


SOUTH  INDIA:  THE  GOSPEL 
AND  SOCIAL  UPLIFT 


The  South  India  ^Mission  has  a  long  record  of  mission- 
ary achievement  that  places  this  mission  in  the  fore- 
front of  the  foreign  mission  fields  of  the  world.  The 
heroism,  faith,  and  Spartan  determination  of  the  first 
Telugu  missionaries  is  a  story  that  to  this  day  is  a 
source  of  inspiration  to  missionary  leaders  of  all  denom- 
inations. 

The  South  India  Mission  comprises  the  Aladras  Presi- 
dency and  Hyderabad,  an  independent  Native  State  as 
large  as  Italy,  with  a  population  of  thirteen  million,  which 
is  ruled  over  by  the  Nizam,  a  Mohammedan  prince. 
From  the  first,  the  work  has  been  almost  entirely  among 
the  outcaste  Aladigas,  the  lowest  of  the  low.  Considering 
the  character  and  the  deplorable  needs  of  these  depressed 
and  degraded  people  and  the  almost  insurmountable  dif- 
ficulties of  the  field,  the  numbers  brought  into  the  church 
and  their  spiritual,  moral,  intellectual,  and  social  develop- 
ment under  the  influence  of  Christianity  are  a  most  strik- 
ing evidence  of  the  divine  origin  and  character  of  the 
foreign  missionary  enterprise.  In  the  Madras  Presidency 
there  are  six  and  a  half  million  people  classed  as  the  un- 
touchables. Out  of  every  ten  Hindus,  three  are  treated 
as  being  beyond  the  pale  of  decent  humanity.  The 
restrictions  that  encompass  these  unfortunates  in  their 
dealings  with  the  higher  castes  are  almost  incredible.  In 
nearly  everv  village  the  public  water-supply  is  absolutely 
forbidden  to  the  outcaste  population,  which  numbers  one- 

93 


94  Following  the  Pioneers 

sixth  of  the  people  of  the  Presidency.  The  government 
report  of  1920  says  : 

The  work  of  the  various  Christian  Mission  Societies  in  giving 
education  to  the  Panchamas  or  outcastes  is  beyond  praise.  The 
pioneer  work  of  the  missions  has  not  been  confined  to  the  educa- 
tion of  the  depressed  classes  in  their  own  schools.  By  resolutely 
insisting  that  members  of  the  depressed  classes  should  be  admitted 
to  higher  educational  institutions  under  mission  control,  they  have 
gradually  created  a  body  of  public  opinion  in  favor  of  treating 
these  classes  as  fellow  human  beings. 

Broadly  speaking,  Hindu  society  may  be  said  to  be  divided 
into  three  classes :  the  Brahmin  or  high-caste  Hindu  at 
the  top,  the  Panchama  or  outcaste  at  the  bottom,  and  the 
Sudra  in  the  middle.  The  Sudras  are  divided  into  many 
subcastes,  some  of  them  very  low  in  social  status  and 
others  occupying  a  very  high  position.  By  occupation 
they  are  farmers  and  artisans  for  the  most  part.  A 
strong,  sturdy,  self-reliant  people,  they  constitute  the 
great  middle  class  in  India  and  are  the  backbone  of  Hindu 
society.  Christianity  beginning,  as  ever  in  its  history, 
at  the  bottom  of  Hindu  society,  is  gradually  working  up- 
ward. Having  laid  hold  of  the  outcaste,  despised  and 
downtrodden  for  centuries,  and  having  lifted  him  up 
into  a  new  manhood  in  Christ  Jesus,  giving  him  a  new 
social  and  religious  status  in  the  land,  it  is  now  rapidly 
and  powerfully  permeating  the  great  middle  classes,  the 
Sudras.  It  is  the  conviction  of  the  most  experienced 
missionary  workers  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when 
we  will  see  an  even  greater  mass  movement  to  Chris- 
tianity among  the  Sudras  than  we  have  witnessed  among 
the  outcastes.  When  that  day  comes,  it  will  be  like  the 
inrushing  of  the  ocean  tides;  and  the  kingdom  of  God 
will  come  with  power. 

Dr.  W.  L.  Ferguson  says: 


South  India :  The  Gospel  and  Social  Uplift      95 

There  have  been  large  movements  among  the  outcaste  population 
and  the  poor,  and  the  despised  and  the  oppressed  by  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  have  been  gathered  into  the  church.  There 
is  no  brighter  page  in  all  mission  history  than  that  which  sets 
forth  the  triumphs  of  Christ  in  the  American  Baptist  Telugu 
Mission.  God  has  given  us  victory,  not  by  strategy  of  any 
human  kind,  but  by  the  gracious  movings  of  his  own  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  hearts  of  men.  It  was  indicated  to  the  missionaries  that 
it  was  his  pleasure  for  them  to  reap,  and  this  they  have  done 
abundantly.  The  harvest  is  still  plenteous,  but  the  laborers  are 
few.  In  addition  to  the  classes  which  have  already  been  reached 
in  such  large  numbers  by  the  gospel  in  our  Baptist  fields,  there 
are  millions  of  caste  people  to  be  won.  Many  among  those  are 
giving  unwonted  attention  to  the  word  of  Christ,  and  there  are 
indications  in  some  quarters  that  a  mass  movement  among  the 
Sudras  may  not  be  very  far  distant. 

Samuel  Day,  our  first  Telugu  missionary,  reached  India 
in  1836.  At  Nellore,  five  years  later,  he  baptized  his  first 
convert.  The  first  ten  years  were  so  fruitless  that  the 
Society  at  home  considered  the  advisability  of  giving-  up 
the  mission  and  transferring  the  missionary  to  Burma. 
Adoniram  Judson,  who  was  in  America  on  furlough, 
tried  to  rally  the  faith  of  the  denomination.  He  said, 
"  I  would  cheerfully  at  my  age  cross  the  Bay  of  Bengal 
and  learn  a  new  language  rather  than  by  the  lift  of  my 
hand  vote  for  the  abandonment  of  this  work."  Doctor 
Day,  who  had  returned  to  America  a  sick  man,  protested 
so  vigorously  against  the  abandonment  of  the  mission 
that  it  was  decided  to  hold  the  matter  of  the  future  of 
the  mission  in  abeyance.  INIeanwhile  Lyman  Jewett  and 
his  wife  volunteered  for  Nellore  and  with  Doctor  Day 
set  sail  for  India,  October,  1848.  arriving  at  Nellore  the 
following  April.  There  was  another  long  period  of 
seed-sowing  and  waiting,  and  after  a  visit  to  the  mission 
in  1853  by  the  deputation  from  America,  it  was  again 
recommended  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Society  that  a 


96  Following  the  Pioneers 

letter  be  written  to  Doctor  Jewett  to  close  up  the  mission 
and  go  to  Burma.  In  the  evening  during  the  discussion 
of  the  subject,  one  of  the  speakers  pointed  to  a  map  of 
the  world  on  which  the  Baptist  mission  stations  were 
marked  by  stars  and  called  Nellore  the  Lone  Star  Mis- 
sion. The  phrase  caught  the  imagination  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Smith,  the  author  of  America,  and  before  he  slept  that 
night  he  wrote  the  poem  beginning : 

Shine  on,  "  Lone  Star !  "    Thy  radiance  bright 
Shall  spread  o'er  all  the  eastern  sky; 

Morn  breaks  apace  from  gloom  and  night; 
Shine  on,  and  bless  the  pilgrim's  eye. 

When  the  poem  was  read  next  morning  it  turned 
the  tide,  and  the  vote  was  unanimous  to  continue  the  mis- 
sion and  send  out  reenforcements.  Meanwhile  Doctor 
Jewett  and  a  little  group  of  Lidian  Christians  had  made 
a  long  tour  to  the  north  and  returning,  camped  at  Ongole. 
Mrs.  Montgomery,  in  her  book  "  Following  the  Sunrise," 
thus  describes  that  morning  prayer-meetnig  at  Ongole : 

Very  early  in  the  morning,  as  it  began  to  dawn  toward  the 
first  day  of  the  year,  the  little  group  of  Christians  climbed  the 
hill  to  be  alone  with  God.  There  was  nothing  dramatic  in  their 
action,  no  consciousness  on  their  part  of  taking  part  in  a  historic 
scene.  They  were  a  little  obscure  band,  quite  naturally  and 
simply  obeying  the  desire  of  their  own  hearts  for  an  hour  of 
communion  and  dedication.  But  generations  yet  unborn  will  visit 
that  sacred  hill,  where  in  faith  God's  children,  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  took  possession  of  the  land  of  the  Telugus.  The  story 
of  what  happened  at  that  sunrise  prayer-meeting  is  best  told  by 
the  Bible-woman,  Julia  of  Nellore:  First  we  sang  a  hymn,  and 
Father  Jewett  prayed.  Then  Christian  Nursu  prayed.  Then 
Father  read  a  portion  of  Isaiah,  fifty-second  chapter:  "How 
beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth 
good  tidings,  that  publisheth  peace."  Then  Mother  Jewett  prayed, 
then  I  prayed,  and  then  Ruth  prayed.     After  we  had  all  prayed. 


PRAYER-MEETING  HILL 
Ongole,  India 


PRAYER-MEETING  HILL 
Ongole,  India 


South  India:  The  Gospel  and  Social  Uplift      97 

Father  Jewett  stood  up,  and  stretching  out  his  hand,  said :  '  Do 
you  see  that  rising  piece  of  ground  yonder,  all  covered  over  with 
prickly-pear?  Would  you  not  like  that  spot  for  our  mission 
bungalow  and  all  this  land  to  become  Christian?  Well,  that  day 
will  come."  Then  we  all  spoke  our  minds,  and  just  as  the  meeting 
closed,  the  sun  rose.  It  seemed  as  if  the  Holy  Spirit  had  lifted  us 
above  the  world,  and  our  hearts  were  filled  with  thanksgiving  to 
the  Lord. 

After  a  quarter  of  a  century  without  evident  results 
another  effort  was  made  at  the  annual  meeting  in  1862  in 
Providence  to  abandon  the  mission.  Doctor  Warren,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Board,  plead  that  final  action  might  be 
deferred  until  the  arrival  of  Doctor  Jewett  who  was  re- 
turning to  America  broken  in  health.  Doctor  Jewett's 
undaunted  faith  saved  the  mission.  He  said  that  if  the 
Society  were  determined  to  close  the  mission  he  should 
return  alone  to.  Nellore,  there  to  work  and  die. 

Doctor  Jewett's  return  to  India  in  1864,  accompanied 
by  John  E.  Clough,  marked  the  beginning  of  a  new  day 
for  this  mission.  In  1867,  converts  began  to  come  by 
hundreds.  The  number  of  church-members  grew  to  more 
than  three  thousand  when  the  famine  of  1877  caused  a 
halt  in  the  reception  of  new  members  into  the  church. 
Evangelistic  effort,  however,  w^as  carried  on  unabated  in 
the  midst  of  the  work  of  famine  relief.  With  the  coming 
of  the  rains  of  1878  and  the  end  of  the  famine,  the  mis- 
sionaries began  again  to  baptize  and  receive  people  into 
the  church,  and  in  one  day  at  Ongole,  Doctor  Clough 
with  six  Telugu  preachers  baptized  2,222,  and  ten  thou- 
sand were  received  into  the  church  in  one  year.  This 
was  truly  a  mass  movement  and  a  movement  of  God.  For 
more  than  forty  years  the  Telugus  have  continued  to 
come  into  the  church  by  hundreds  and  thousands,  and  in 
the  last  twenty  years  the  reported  baptisms  have  numbered 
more  than  sixty  thousand. 


98  Following  the  Pioneers 

India  is  an  illiterate  country.  Less  than  ten  per  cent, 
of  the  men  and  less  than  one  per  cent,  of  the  women 
can  read  and  write.  The  most  obvious  method  for  the 
uplifting  of  the  untouchables,  as  indeed  of  the  other  de- 
pressed classes  of  India,  lies  in  education.  In  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century  the  number  of  Panchama  pupils  in 
public  institutions  of  Madras  has  risen  from  thirty  thou- 
sand to  well  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand;  an 
increase  of  four  hundred  per  cent.  It  is  moreover  en- 
couraging to  notice  that  whereas  in  1892  there  were 
only  eleven  primary  schools  for  girls  of  the  depressed 
classes  in  the  Madras  Presidency,  there  are  now  one 
hundred. 

In  our  Telugu  Baptist  Mission,  with  its  work  largely 
among  these  outcaste  and  depressed  classes,  the  matter  of 
education  is  one  of  the  most  urgent  importance.  An 
illiterate  church  could  never  be  a  strong  church.  To  edu- 
cate the  children  of  our  Madiga  converts  and  secure  a 
sufficient  number  of  educated  men  as  pastors  and  leaders 
of  the  Telugu  churches  was  a  problem  to  which  the  early 
missionaries  gave  immediate  attention.  The  contribution 
of  American  Baptists  to  the  educational  uplift  of  India 
has  been  notable  and  has  won  the  gratitude  of  the  people 
and  appreciative  recognition  of  the  Government.  In  the 
South  India  Mission  we  have  today  912  elementary 
schools,  fourteen  secondary  schools  other  than  high 
schools,  four  high  schools,  five  training-schools,  and  one 
theological  seminary.  In  theological  training  we  coop- 
erate with  the  Canadian  Baptists,  who  are  also  working 
for  the  Telugu  people  in  a  territory  adjacent  to  our  field. 
In  these  936  institutions  there  are  25,625  boys  and  girls 
and  young  men  and  young  women  receiving  an  education 
in  which  the  Bible  holds  an  important  place. 

There  are  three  high  schools  for  boys,  one  at  Nellore, 


South  India :  The  Gospel  and  Social  Uplift      99 

one  at  Ongole,  and  one  at  Kurnool.  As  the  primary  ob- 
ject of  these  schools  is  the  training  of  Christian  boys, 
it  is  the  poHcy  to  keep  the  enrolment  Christian  in  fact 
and  spirit.  Recognizing  that  the  less  favored  of  the 
population  are  in  greater  need  of  the  benefits  of  education 
than  the  more  favored  classes,  it  is  the  policy  of  these 
schools  to  enroll  the  students  in  limited  numbers  in  the 
following  order:  Christians,  Panchamas  (outcastes),  j\Io- 
hammedans,  Sudras,  higher  castes,  and  Brahmins.  The 
Coles  Memorial  High  School  at  Kurnool  and  the  Coles 
Akerman  Memorial  at  Nellore  owe  their  beautiful  build- 
ings to  the  generosity  of  Dr.  J.  Akerman  Coles,  of 
Scotch  Plains,  New  Jersey.  At  Nellore,  in  order  to  make 
the  Christian  impact  of  the  school  more  personal,  the 
enrolment  has  been  reduced  from  732  to  400.  In  Kur- 
nool, 102  of  the  392  boys  are  Christians.  I  spent  one 
morning  in  the  Ongole  High  School  visiting  the  Bible 
classes.  I  found  one  class  in  the  midst  of  an  oral  exam- 
ination and  was  much  pleased  at  the  intelligence  with 
which  the  boys  answered  the  questions.  Boy  Scout  craft 
has  been  introduced  into  all  the  high  schools.  With  its 
emphasis  on  the  dignity  of  labor,  unselfish  service,  and 
higher  type  of  manhood,  the  Boy  Scout  Movement  is 
playing  a  vital  part  in  character  building  which  is  the 
aim  of  all  missionary  education.  Athletics  have  their 
place  in  the  life  of  these  three  high  schools,  and  they 
have  each  held  a  place  of  leadership  in  their  respective 
districts. 

The  Girls'  High  School  in  Nellore  has  an  enrolment 
of  eighty-five.  A  company  of  girl  guides  has  been  or- 
ganized, and  the  girls  are  full  of  enthusiasm  at  being  a 
part  of  a  world  movement.  The  course  of  study,  with 
the  Bible  holding  a  prominent  place,  is  building  well  for 
the  future  Telugu  womanhood.    One  of  last  year's  gradu- 


100  Following  the  Pioneers 

ates  entered  the  Christian  College  for  Women  in  Madras, 
and  two  others  have  entered  the  Woman's  Medical  Col- 
lege at  Vellore.  Dr.  Y.  Nandamah,  one  of  the  Jubilee 
guests  of  the  Woman's  Society  in  1921,  is  a  graduate  of 
this  school  and  the  Ludhiana  Medical  School. 

The  Mission  has  training-schools  for  women  teachers 
in  Ongole  and  Nellore  and  a  normal  school  for  men  with 
157  students  at  Bapatla.  The  Bible  holds  a  central  place 
in  the  curriculum  of  these  schools,  and  each  class  studies 
the  Bible  every  day.  The  912  mission  schools,  in  addition 
to  their  educational  work,  serve  as  centers  where  children 
and  parents  can  be  gathered  together  for  Christian  pur- 
poses. 

Working  among  a  people  so  economically  destitute  in 
a  country  where  an  age-long  social  system  has  instilled 
a  false  idea  of  the  degradation  of  labor,  it  has  been 
necessary  to  emphasize  the  value  of  vocational  and  indus- 
trial training,  and  considerable  industrial  work  is  being 
done  in  the  various  schools  in  most  of  the  mission  stations. 
Vocational  schools  for  boys  have  be^n  opened  at  Nel- 
lore and  Kurnool.  At  Nellore  the  government  has  re- 
served for  students  of  our  ^agricultural  courses  land 
which  up  to  this  time  has  lain  waste,  but  is  capable  of 
being  brought  under  cultivation.  Each  student  will  be 
assigned  five  acres  upon  completion  of  his  course  provided 
he  wishes  to  become  a  farmer.  This  land  will  be  his  for- 
ever on  condition  that  he  cannot  mortgage  it,  lease  it, 
or  sell  it.  If  he  attempts  any  of  these  it  will  revert  to 
the  Government.  This  course  helps  the  boys  in  meeting 
their  school  expenses  (for  they  are  paid  for  work  done) 
and  helps  them  physically  and  in  development  of  real 
manhood.  Considering  the  fact  that  this  is  India,  and 
that  a  few  years  ago  to  insist  on  any  physical  labor  in 
our  boarding-schools  was  to  invite  a  rebellion,  we  are 


ENGINE  SHED  AND  FREIGHT  HOUSES 
Kharagpur,  Bengal-Orissa 


CROWD  ON  BANK  AT  BAPTISM 
Kavali,  India 


THE  GOSPEL  AND  THE  PLOW 
Coles  Vocational  School,  Kurnool,  India 


South  India:  The  Gospel  and  Social  Uplift    101 

much  gratified  at  the  way  the  boys  are  now  entering  into 
this  work. 

At  the  Kurnool  school  students  are  taught  weaving, 
carpentry,  farming,  and  alHed  industries.  Here  they  are 
given  training  that  will  make  it  possible  for  them  to 
enter  into  some  village  trade  with  little  difficulty.  They 
are  most  interested  in  carpentry,  and  at  the  opening  of 
the  new  school  year  it  is  expected  that  sixteen  car- 
pentry benches  will  be  in  use.  All  our  Christian  boys 
come  from  the  farming  class.  The  school  has  sixty 
acres  under  cultivation,  besides  three  acres  of  garden. 
These  boys  are  learning  by  doing.  There  is  also  another 
class  of  young  men.  the  unfortunates  who  have  had  no 
chance  to  go  to  school  at  all,  and  who  on  arriving  at 
manhood  find  that  they  are  virtually  slaves,  bound  by 
custom,  debt,  and  ignorance  to  a  life  of  a  village  coolie. 
For  such  as  these  it  is  hoped  to  organize  special  classes, 
that  will  give  them  a  degree  of  education  and  help  them 
to  improve  their  condition. 

In  addition  to  these  schools,  we  are  cooperating  with 
other  evangelical  denominations  in  Madras  Christian  Col- 
lege, a  missionary  institution  w^hich  has  been  of  large  in- 
fluence in  the  educational  life  of  the  Madras  Presidency. 

Doctor  Woodbury,  of  the  Madras  Christian  College, 
in  the  report  of  1921  says : 

Throughout  my  experience  as  a  missionary  in  the  Telugu 
country,  I  have  frequently  been  aware  of  the  splendid  influence 
of  the  colleg'e  through  the  friendly  attitude  on  the  part  of  the 
graduates  whom  I  have  met  in  official  life.  A  marked  evidence 
of  that  attitude  was  seen  in  the  recent  debate  and  vote  in  the 
Madras  Legislative  Council  on  the  proposed  Conscience  Clause 
to  be  introduced  into  the  Grants-in-Aid  Code.  The  motion  was 
practically  defeated  by  the  alumni  of  this  institution.  Man  after 
man  arose  in  the  Council  and  related  his  experience  of  religious 
instruction   in  the   College  and  gave  it  as  his   testimony  that  it 


102  Following  the  Pioneers 

had  been  a  formative  influence  in  the  strengthening  of  his  own 
character.  After  six  months  of  service  in  the  College,  I  am  more 
than  ever  convinced  that  the  Madras  Christian  College  is  one 
of  the  first  agencies  in  the  land  in  bringing  about  the  con- 
summation of  missionary  endeavor  in  this  land — the  Christian- 
izing of  India — and  I  rejoice  that  American  Baptists  have  a  share 
in  the  glorious  enterprise. 

The  Woman's  Society  is  also  cooperating  with  seven 
American  and  six  British  Societies  in  the  Woman's  Chris- 
tian College  of  Madras.  This  is  the  first  Christian  col- 
lege for  women  in  Madras  Presidency.  The  enrohiient 
numbers  128  students  from  the  Tamil,  Telugu,  Syrian 
Christian,  Malayalam,  Kanarese,  one  from  each  of  the 
following :  Bengal,  Deccan,  Maratha,  Ceylon,  and  Burma. 
Among  the  last  nine  young  women  to  receive  degrees, 
three  were  awarded  gold  medals.  This  year  there  are 
seven  Baptist  students  in  the  college,  and  three  graduates 
are  studying  in  England.  All  the  students  are  regular 
attendants  at  the  services  of  the  Day  Memorial  Church, 
Madras.  The  spirit  of  Christian  service  is  strong.  One 
enterprise  of  the  past  year  has  been  the  school  for  the 
servants'  children,  carried  on  by  the  students.  They 
also  go  out  in  groups  for  Sunday  school  work  among 
children  who  otherwise  would  receive  no  Christian  teach- 
ing. There  is  urgent  need  for  a  Christian  training  insti- 
tution for  graduates,  and  the  Council  of  the  Woman's 
Christian  College  is  asking  the  cooperating  missions  to 
undertake  this  work.  The  Woman's  Society  also  coop- 
erates in  the  Vellore  Medical  School,  one  of  the  two 
medical  schools  for  women  in  the  Indian  Empire. 

The  most  important  institution  in  the  Telugu  Mission 
is  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Ramapatnam.  There  are 
fifty-six  students  here,  and  in  addition  to  the  regular 
theological  work  for  the  men,  there  is  a  course  in  physiol- 


South  India :  The  Gospel  and  Social  Uplift    103 

ogy,  first  aid,  hygiene,  sanitation,  Bible  study,  education 
of  children,  sewing,  kindergarten,  and  Sunday  school 
work  for  the  wives  of  the  students.  These  young  In- 
dian "  theologs,"  in  addition  to  their  courses  in  theology, 
homiletics,  and  exegesis,  are  lined  up  every  afternoon 
for  football,  baseball,  tennis,  and  various  Indian  sports, 
so  that  they  will  enter  upon  their  work  with  physical 
vigor  and  moral  stamina  that  will  stand  them  in  good 
stead  as  preachers  and  leaders  of  the  churches  through- 
out South  India.  In  order  to  bring  the  seminary  students 
nearer  to  the  center  of  population  and  in  closer  touch 
with  the  Hfe  of  the  people,  it  is  proposed  to  move 
the  Seminary  to  Bezwada.  Bezwada  is  the  center  of 
the  densest  Christian  population  in  India.  It  is  centrally 
located  for  our  own  field  and  for  the  field  of  the  Canadian 
Baptist  Mission  and  is  the  place  of  all  places  to  build  a 
theological  seminary.  The  site  selected  for  the  build- 
ings is  one  mile  out  of  the  city  on  the  banks  of  the 
Kistna,  with  towering  hills  in  the  distance.  There  is  a 
very  strong  racial  sentiment  in  India  at  the  present  time, 
in  which  the  different  races  of  India  are  most  pronounced 
in  their  racial  pride  and  race  solidarity.  The  Telugus 
are  agitating  for  a  separate  Telugu  Province.  The 
Madras  Provincial  Government  has  authorized  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  Telugu  University  which  will  probably 
be  located  at  Bezwada.  The  Telugu  Missions  Conference, 
a  representative  of  the  missions  working  in  the  Telugu 
field,  has  voted  to  establish  a  Union  Christian  Telugu 
College,  and  it  is  likely  that  this  institution  will  also  be 
established  here.  The  Mission  has  repeatedly  urged  upon 
the  Board  the  necessity  of  establishing  a  station  in  this 
important  Telugu  center,  and  this  will  undoubtedly  be 
done  as  soon  as  the  necessary  men  and  money  are  avail- 
able.    We   have   a   strong   independent   Baptist   church 


104  Following  the  Pioneers 

here  now  with  a  good  stone  church  building  which  they 
are  outgrowing.  The  work  in  Bezwada  has  been  carried 
on  under  the  supervision  of  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Frank  Kurtz, 
of  Madira,  South  India.  We  visited  Bezwada  in  1921  and 
at  a  service  in  this  church  we  were  presented  with  the 
following  address  of  welcome: 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir  and  Madam  : 

We,  the  Baptist  Christians  attached  to  the  American  Bap- 
tist Church,  Bezwada,  do  hereby  offer  you  our  hearty  welcome, 
and  submit  our  heartful  thanks  to  God  for  sending  you  to  our 
midst. 

We  do  understand  and  appreciate  the  great  sacrifices  you  have 
made  in  leaving  your  native  land  and  friends  to  come  to  this 
distant  land  which  is  over  11,000  miles  off. 

We  are  utterly  strangers  to  you  and  so  we  are  very  thankful 
to  you  for  your  kind  visit  to  this  station,  though  it  is  not  a 
Baptist  mission  station. 

It  will  not  be  out  of  place  for  us  to  mention  a  little  about 
this  station.  This  Bezwada  was  only  a  village  some  forty 
years  back  with  a  population  of  about  six  or  seven  thousands, 
though  it  has  its  historical  and  religious  importance  in  the  estima- 
tion of  our  Hindu  brethren.  Now  the  railway  junction  made  the 
town  grown  to  forty-five  thousands  in  the  last  census,  and  it  can 
be  fairly  called  the  first  internal  trade  center  for  Andhra  Country. 
The  town  is  daily  growing  in  its  importance  by  drawing  people 
from  the  surrounding  districts.  We  hear  that  several  joint- 
stock  concerns  are  being  floated  for  establishing  industries  such  ■ 
as  cement  factory,  oil  factories,  and  spinning-  and  weaving-mills, 
etc.,  the  capital  cost  of  these  being  Rs.  30,000,000,  about  ten  mil- 
lions American  dollars;  as  such  it  is  sure  to  see  the  place  grown 
very  soon.  The  grant  of  a  separate  Government  for  the  Telugu- 
speaking  districts  is  only  a  matter  of  time,  and  Bezwada  is  talked 
of  in  all  the  important  places  to  be  the  seat  of  the  future 
Government.  Under  these  circumstances  Bezwada  has  a  bright 
future  to  count  on. 

Coming  to  the  point  of  the  growth  of  the  Baptist  Church 
under  the  shelter  of  American  Baptist  Mission  here,  we  beg  to 
say   that   some   eighteen  years  back   the  church  was   only  thirty 


South  India ;  The  Gospel  and  Social  Uplift    105 

or  forty  strong,  and  after  your  Board  has  sanctioned  the  present 
shelter,  which  is  a  substantial  building  costing  about  six  thou- 
sand rupees  in  the  good  old  days,  has  begun  to  grow  and  has  now 
two  hundred  and  fifty  communicants,  and  the  church  building  is 
insufficient  even  for  ordinary  Sunday  meetings.  The  church  is 
a  self-supporting  church  under  your  shelter  and  under  the  good 
and  priestly  guidance  of  our  missionaries,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Kurtz, 
for  whose  services  we  are  very  much  indebted. 

We  must  have  to  mention  here  an  important  point  about  the 
Baptist  Christians  scattered  in  all  corners  of  the  town  number- 
ing about  one  thousand  or  more  adults ;  these  are  people  who  came 
from  various  Baptist  mission  fields  in  the  Telugu  area,  mostly 
from  central  districts  for  which  your  country  is  pouring  in  funds 
daily.  These  require  to  be  taken  care  of  immediately  as  they 
are  unattached  to  any  church,  though  they  made  Bezwada  as 
their  permanent  abode  owing  to  the  increased  labor  facilities 
growing  daily.  .There  is  no  person  to  guide  them  to  a  shelter  and 
give  them  spiritual  food. 

As  we  are  too  poor  we  could  not  take  up  any  such  responsibility 
on  our  shoulders  to  do  anything  for  them  nor  for  their  children. 
We  are  praying  God,  that  he  may  do  something  for  us  who  are 
under  your  shelter  and  who  are  scattered  around  your  shelter 
uncared  for,  and  now  we  believe  that  our  prayers  are  heard  by 
our  Lord  who  sent  you  to  our  midst  to  see  things  personally  and 
to  place  them  before  your  Board  to  make  this  a  mission  station 
immediately,  to  meet  the  requirements  of  these  helpless  and 
destitute  Christians  scattered  in  a  very  important  town. 

We  do  further  believe  that  your  visit  will  surely  grant  us  the 
boons  which  we  are  expecting  for  this  place  in  the  shape  of  a 
Union  Christian  College  and  seminary  at  an  early  date. 

We  humbly  and  respectfully  beg  to  request  you  to  carry  with 
you  our  humble  gratitude  to  your  land  of  Christian  devotees 
and  tell  them  that  we.  the  depressed  classes  here  under,  the 
rigid  caste  system,  are  very  much  indebted  to  the  noble-minded 
Christians  who  are  pouring  in  funds  from  the  remote  corners 
of  the  West  for  our  elevation. 

With  regard  to  the  political  situation,  we  want  to  submit  to 
you  that  God  gave  us  strength  to  declare  ourselves  loyal  to  the 
British  Crown,  and  we  hope  the  present  situation  will  soon 
turn  out  into  a  calm  atmosphere  giving  better  room  for  God's 
work. 


106  Following  the  Pioneers 

In  conclusion,  we  thank  you  and  Mrs.  Robbins  very  much 
for  your  kindness  in  hearing  our  address. 

We  pray  for  your  long  life  and  prosperity  and  happy  voyage 
home.    We  beg  to  remain, 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir  and  Madam, 

Yours  most  obediently, 

Members  of  the  Baptist  Church,  Bezwada. 

Bezwada,  27-12-21. 

The  difficulties  involved  in  bringing  about  the  uplift  of 
the  depressed  classes  of  India  can  hardly  be  realized  with- 
out first-hand  knowledge  of  the  conditions  of  the  country. 
There  is  urgent  need  of  implanting  the  seeds  of  elemen- 
tary sanitary  knowledge.  It  has  been  well  remarked  that 
the  primitive  condition  of  sanitation  in  rural  India 
amounts  to  virtually  no  sanitation  at  all.  The  value  of 
fresh  air,  pure  water,  and  wholesome  food,  as  well  as 
the  elements  of  domestic  and  personal  hygiene,  have  to 
be  brought  into  the  every-day  life  of  the  population. 
Some  idea  of  the  scope  which  exists  for  improvement 
in  this  direction  is  afforded  by  a  study  of  the  Indian 
death-rate.  It  has  been  calculated  that  every  year  no 
fewer  than  two  million  Indian  babies  die,  while  many 
others  survive  only  to  grow  up  weak  and  feeble,  from 
unhygienic  surroundings  during  infancy.  Fifty  per  cent, 
of  all  children  in  Bombay  die  before  reaching  the  age  of 
eighteen  months,  while  in  Delhi  one  infant  in  every  four 
born  in  1919  was  doomed  to  die  within  the  first  year. 
Very  little  can  be  done  to  remedy  this  state  of  afiFairs 
until  the  support  of  Indian  womanhood  can  be  enlisted. 
Upon  the  Indian  woman  depends  the  success  or  failure 
of  every  attempt  to  introduce  hygienic  principles  into  In- 
dian homes  and  to  improve  the  conditions  of  childbirth, 
so  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  advisability  of 


South  India :  The  Gospel  and  Social  Uplift     107 

educating  the  female  population.  There  is  so  much  igno- 
rance, indifference,  and  poverty  on  the  part  of  the  In- 
dian women  at  large,  and  so  much  opposition  on  the  part 
of  the  indigenous  midwives  who  consider  their  livelihood 
at  stake,  that  the  progress  which  is  being  made  is  very 
slow.  In  the  United  Provinces,  a  committee  has  been 
constituted  to  discuss  the  best  methods  of  sustaining 
the  Lady  Chelmsford  League  for  maternity  and  child 
welfare,  while  in  Madras  a  private  hospital  for  children, 
managed  entirely  by  Indian  doctors,  constitutes  a  tangible 
sign  of  growing  interest  in  one  of  India's  greatest  health 
problems.  In  almost  every  province  a  Board  of  Health 
is  either  constituted  or  contemplated  and  there  is  a  marked 
tendency  on  the  part  of  District  Boards  to  appoint  full- 
time  health  offcers  for  their  localities.  The  employment 
of  Sanitary  Inspectors  in  growing  numbers  is  another 
propaganda,  under  the  control  of  the  Sanitary  Commis- 
sioners, in  Bombay,  Bihar,  and  other  Provinces  to  bring 
about  an  increased  knowledge  of  hygiene  among  the 
leaders  of  the  community.  It  is  hoped  that  the  extension 
of  sanitary  education  of  India  will  proceed  at  a  more  rapid 
rate  with  the  transfer  of  this  important  branch  of  nation- 
building  to  the  control  of  elected  ministers  of  the  people. 
Notwithstanding  all  that  the  British  Government  is  do- 
ing through  its  hospitals  and  dispensaries,  it  is  estimated 
that  there  are  nearly  one  hundred  million  people  in  India 
without  adequate  medical  aid.  The  Telugu  Mission  has 
established,  in  the  name  of  the  Great  Physician,  seven 
hospitals  and  eleven  dispensaries  in  which  one  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  patients  were  treated  last  year.  At 
Nellore,  Dr.  Lena  A.  Benjamin  writes  in  regard  to  the 
Woman's  Hospital  there : 

We  have  been  cheered  by  the  return  to  us  of  Miss  Nandamah 
and  Miss  Thanthamma.  who  have  finished  their  medical  courses 


108  Following  the  Pioneers 

at  Ludhiana.  These  two  Indian  Christian  young  women  have 
been  of  great  assistance  in  the  work.  They  are  professionally 
well  qualified  and  have  been  able  to  win  and  hold  the  confidence 
of  the  people.  The  wards  have  been  crowded  the  whole  year, 
and  there  were  several  months  when,  if  there  had  been  twice 
the  number  of  beds,  they  would  all  have  been  occupied. 

At  Hanumakonda  there  is  the  Victory  Memorial  Hos- 
pital. Here  Dr.  J.  S.  Timpany  has  been  reenforced  by 
another  one  of  the  young  people  of  our  mission,  Miss 
Minnie  Rungiah,  who  has  completed  the  subassistant's 
course  at  Ludhiana  and  has  largely  taken  over  the  out- 
patients and  dispensary  work  among  women.  Doctor 
Timpany  relates  the  following  incident  which  illustrates 
the  type  of  experience  of  the  medical  missionary  practise : 

Our  wards  have  received  chiefly  patients  in  serious  condition, 
many  being  victims  A  village  quackery  and  maltreatment.  Sev- 
eral serious  acciden'  cases  have  found  refuge  here.  A  Brahmin 
boy  about  fourteen  years  of  age  recently  fell  into  an  empty 
well  about  forty-fiv :  feet  deep,  and  lay  on  the  rock  at  the 
bottom  piteously  ca'  .ing  for  help.  The  caste  people  gathered 
about  the  well,  but  no  one  would  venture  down.  Finally,  a 
poor  Madiga  came  along  and  went  to  the  rescue.  The  boy  was 
lifted  in  the  arms  of  the  despised  outcaste  and  put  into  a  basket, 
and  pulled  up.  On  reaching  the  surface  he  said :  "  Now  I'm  going 
to  live.  Take  me  to  the  mission  hospital."  For  a  time  we  were 
not  sure  that  he  was  going  to  live,  for  with  his  arm  and  leg 
both  broken — compound  fractures — loss  of  blood  from  a  lacerated 
vein,  and  suffering  from  shock,  his  condition  was  most  serious. 
He  is  now  making  a  good  recovery  in  our  ward.  The  temple  well 
has  probably  been  made  ceremonially  pure  again  from  contact 
with  a  man  who  would  risk  his  life  in  service  to  a  suffering  boy. 

At  the  Etta  Watcrbury  Hospital,  Udayagiri,  the  work 
has  been  in  charo^e  of  Mrs.  Francis  Bai,  a  little  Indian 
woman  who  har  done  a  remarkable  work  in  the  absence 
of  Dr.  F.  W.  Stait.  Thirty-seven  operations  were  per- 
formed and  8,094  treatments  given  during  the  past  year. 


WARD  IN  THE  NELLORE  HOSPITAL 
Nellore,  India 


DOCTOR  KIRBY'S  ASSISTANT  TREATING 

A  LEPER 

Jorhat,  Assam 


South  India :  The  Gospel  and  Social  Uplift     109 

The  acting  district  medical  and  sanitary  officer,  upon  com- 
pleting an  inspection  of  the  hospital,  reported  as  follows : 

I  visited  the  hospital  this  morning  and  found  everything  very- 
clean  and  tidy.  Mrs.  Frances  Bai,  who  is  in  charge,  very  kindly 
took  me  around  and  showed  me  everything.  I  am  very  pleaded 
with  all  I  have  seen.     Every  success  to  the  institution. 

The  hospital  at  Udayagiri  is  filling  a  very  great  need 
in  the  backward  section  of  our  mission  and  is  held  in 
high  esteem  by  the  people  throughout  the  community. 
Work  on  the  new  Woman's  Hospital  at  Mahbubnagar  is 
well  under  way,  and  it  is  hoped  that  this  institution,  which 
will  mean  so  much  to  the  women  of  this  Mohammedan 
State,  will  be  completed  early  in  1923.  A  changed  atti- 
tude on  the  part  of  many  caste  people  toward  Christianity 
through  the  medium  of  the  medical  work  is  being  noted. 

In  the  second  category  of  the  depressed  classes  in 
the  Madras  Presidency  come  the  criminal  tribes.  India 
has  a  population  of  319  millions,  four  millions  of  whom 
are  thieves.  Due  to  the  caste  system,  which  offers  no 
alternative  to  a  young  man  but  to  follow  the  footsteps  of 
his  father,  the  son  of  a  thief  invariably  becomes  a  thief. 
There  are  twenty-five  of  these  criminal  tribes  in  the 
Madras  Presidency.  Twenty  thousand  criminals  are 
registered  under  the  Criminal  Tribes  Act  of  1911.  The 
Government's  work  among  the  criminal  tribes  in  Madras, 
as  elsewhere,  has  been  mainly  directed  to  granting  them 
land  and  establishing  settlements  which  secure  their  eco- 
nomic freedom  by  making  them  independent  of  the  neces- 
sity of  earning  their  living  by  crime.  Their  children  are 
educated  and  shown  advantages  of  a  civilized  life.  The 
more  reliable  of  the  settlers  are  given  work  as  wardens; 
and  it  is  the  policy  of  the  Government  to  exclude  as  far 
as  possible  the  activities  of  the  regular  police  from  the 


110  Following  the  Pioneers 

settlement,  as  they  are  a  continual  reminder  of  the  old 
criminal  life  of  the  tribe.  Five  thousand  of  these  criminals 
have  been  restricted  by  the  Government  to  these  settle- 
ments, the  largest  of  which  is  Kavali  and  is  in  charge  of 
Rev.  S.  D.  Bawden,  a  missionary  of  the  American  Baptist 
Foreign  Mission  Society.  The  Kavali  settlement,  with 
twenty-five  criminals,  was  started  in  1912  by  Rev.  Edwin 
BuUard,  and  when  Mr.  Bawden  took  charge  in  1914, 
the  settlement  numbered  550. 

The  settlements  represent  varying  degrees  of  criminals 
from  the  Donga  Erukalas,  just  ordinary  sneak-thieves, 
to  Donga  Dasaries,  the  more  vigorous  type  of  criminal, 
who  are  the  "  hold-up  "  men  of  India.  Upon  arriving 
at  the  settlement  every  family  is  given  a  house  in  which 
to  live.  For  those  who  make  good  at  the  Kavali  settle- 
ment and  show  a  desire  to  live  an  honest  life,  the  Govern- 
ment has  reserved  three  thousand  acres  of  irrigable  land 
at  Allur,  eighteen  miles  away.  Each  adult  transferred 
to  Allur  is  given  an  acre  of  land  which  ultimately  becomes 
his  own  property.  He  is  also  loaned  money  by  the 
Government  without  interest  for  the  purchase  of  stock 
and  necessary  equipment  with  which  to  work  the  land. 
The  members  of  the  Allur  Settlement  live  on  practically 
the  same  terms  as  Christian  people  in  the  neighboring 
villages,  and  about  one-third  of  the  members  have  been 
baptized  and  belong  to  the  Allur  Baptist  church. 

At  Bitragunta,  eleven  miles  from  Kavali,  there  is  an- 
other group  of  criminals  who  have  been  sent  from  Kavali 
but  are  not  quite  so  trustworthy  as  the  Allur  settlers, 
and  are  therefore  kept  closer  at  hand.  Here,  as  at  Allur, 
they  work  in  their  own  fields.  They  are  also  employed 
on  the  roads,  repairing  and  building  the  highways.  The 
Settlement  at  Bitragunta,  to  which  425  former  members 
of  the  Kavali  Settlement  have  been  sent,  is  in  charge  of 


South  India:  The  Gospel  and  Social  Uplift     111 

a  Telugu  Christian,  Mr.  David  Nathaniel,  a  trained  agri- 
culturist and  a  graduate  of  the  Ongole  High  School  and 
of  Ramapatnam  Theological  Seminary.  Each  morning 
a  roll-call  is  held,  at  which  the  Bible  is  read  and  a  brief 
exposition  is  given  by  one  of  the  staff;  then  prayer  is 
offered,  and  all  join  in  repeating  the  Lord's  Prayer. 
Sunday  is  a  holiday  from  work,  but  the  hours  are  broken 
up  and  trouble  averted  by  the  requirements  that  all  attend 
Sunday  school  and  the  preaching  service  in  the  after- 
noon. Many  of  the  criminals  who  when  they  first  come, 
make  objection  to  listening  to  Christian  truths,  later  show 
their  approval  by  earnest  attention  at  these  services. 

Every  boy  and  girl  between  six  and  twelve  years  of 
age  is  required  to  be  in  school.  At  each  of  the  three 
settlements  a  night-school  is  provided  for  the  young  men 
who  work  during  the  day,  and  at  Kavali  and  at  Bitra- 
gunta  there  is  a  similar  school  for  the  young  women. 
Firmness,  justice,  kindness,  work,  education,  and  vital 
Christianity  are  the  key-words  in  the  management  of  the 
criminal  settlements.  It  is  the  firm  conviction  of  the 
superintendent  that  reform  of  these  criminal  classes  is 
impossible  aside  from  the  teaching  of  moral  and  religious 
truths.  He  frankly  believes  that  the  Christian  religion 
offers  the  only  true  solution  of  the  problems. 

One  of  the  ways  in  which  the  Christians  of  South 
India  are  being  helped  to  a  realization  of  a  community 
consciousness  is  in  connection  with  the  cooperative  credit 
movements.  The  Government  is  doing  much  to  encour- 
age the  people  to  establish  cooperative  stores,  cooperative 
societies,  and  cooperative  banks.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  is 
also  helping  to  train  the  people  along  these  lines,  and 
thus  the  Christians  are  being  taught  lessons  of  thrift 
and  economy  and  at  the  same  time  are  getting  a  training 
in  business  methods.    Rev.  W.  J.  Longley  speaks  of  the 


112  Following  the  Pioneers 

newly  organized  society  at  Mahbubnagar  as  a  means 
for  the  Christians  to  get  away  from  ''  the  ruinous 
rates  of  interest  charged  by  the  bazaar  money-lenders." 
The  work  is  being  advanced  very  greatly  by  the  assis- 
tance of  the  Christian  Central  Bank  in  Madras.  As 
schools  of  integrity  and  thrift,  these  societies,  if  care- 
fully supervised,  promise  much  for  the  future.  The  Lon- 
don Mission  at  Anantipur  District  has  set  a  man  apart 
to  look  after  this  economic  work  for  the  Christians  in 
that  district. 

While  all  our  institutional  work  is  permeated  with  evan- 
gelistic fervor  and  our  schools,  hospitals,  and  philan- 
thropic institutions  are  evangelistic  agencies  of  major 
importance,  in  all  of  the  eighteen  stations  there  are  men 
and  women  who  devote  their  entire  time  to  direct  and 
continuous  teaching  and  preaching  in  their  endeavor  to 
win  men  and  women  to  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Telugu  missionaries  enjoy  above  everything  else 
the  privilege  of  touring  their  districts  and  preaching  the 
gospel  directly  to  the  people,  in  the  homes  in  Christian 
and  non-Christian  villages.  Rev.  A.  M.  Boggs,  from  the 
difficult  field  of  Mahbubnagar,  says  the  opposition  to  the 
gospel  in  his  field  is  seemingly  almost  insurmountable, 
and  "  I  am  relieving  myself  of  all  administrative  duties 
as  much  as  possible  so  as  to  give  undivided  attention  to 
actual  touring  among  the  villages  and  preaching."  Most 
of  the  missionaries  report  that  in  this  period  of  political, 
intellectual,  and  social  unrest,  the  people  are  giving  the 
gospel  a  more  attentive  hearing  than  ever  before.  The 
automobile  is  enabling  the  missionary  to  cover  his  field 
more  rapidly  than  in  former  days.  Dr.  J.  A.  Curtis,  Rev. 
W.  S.  Davis,  Dr.  W.  A.  Stanton,  and  Rev.  L.  C  Smith 
all  testify  to  the  multiplying  power  of  the  automobile  in 
doing  evangelistic  work.    Under  date  of  March  30,  1922, 


Winpk. 


STAFF  OF  UNION  MEDICAL  COLLEGE 
Vellore,  India 


GIRLS'  TRAINING-SCHOOL  GRADUATES 
Nowgong,  Assam 


South  India:  The  Gospel  and  Social  Uplift     113 

Mr.  Smith,  who  is  principal  of  the  Coles  Akerman  Memo- 
rial High  School  at  Nellore,  writes : 

We  have  organized  two  new  churches  on  the  Nellore  field  since 
you  were  here  December  23.  We  were  out  to  a  village  last  night 
twelve  miles  from  Nellore.  A  week  ago  five  men  from  that 
village  came  to  our  bungalow  and  begged  us  to  come,  as  there 
were  nine  men  there  who  were  anxious  to  become  Christians. 
We  went  and  held  a  great  meeting,  and  thirteen  openly  con- 
fessed Christ.  A  few  more  visits  will  doubtless  result  in  estab- 
lishing another  church,  as  it  seemed  that  the  whole  village  was 
on  the  verge  of  coming.  This  is  but  an  example  of  what  we  are 
expecting  all  over  this  field. 

The  responsibility  connected  with  such  a  movement  is 
enough  for  one  man,  but  in  addition  to  this  Mr.  Smith 
has  charge  of  the  high-school  work,  preaches  every  Sun- 
day night  in  English  to  a  congregation  including  judges, 
lawyers,  and  students,  is  supervising  the  construction  of 
a  new  building  for  the  Bible  Training  School  and  an 
addition  to  the  hospital,  serves  on  numerous  committees, 
the  Municipal  Council  of  Nellore,  the  District  Educational 
Council,  and  is  honorary  visitor  to  the  Government  Agri- 
cultural College. 

Rev.  Wheeler  Boggess,  who  returned  to  South  India 
at  the  special  invitation  of  the  Telugu  Convention  to  give 
his  entire  time  to  evangelism,  reports  his  first  complete 
year  as  general  evangelist.  He  has  been  holding  evangel- 
istic meetings  among  non-Christians,  speaking  at  conven- 
tions, summer  schools,  and  harvest  festivals,  touring  with 
missionaries  on  their  fields,  and  carrying  the  gospel  to 
all  classes  of  the  people.  Enthusiastic  reports  come  from 
all  over  the  mission  as  to  the  great  value  of  the  work  done. 
Through  his  zeal  and  untiring  efiforts  a  great  impetus 
has  been  given  to  evangelistic  work  throughout  the  Mis- 
sion, and  we  may  expect  to  see  larger  results  year  by 


114  Following  the  Pioneers 

year.  Fourteen  stations  were  visited  twice  and  four 
stations  three  times.  Eleven  associations  and  one  con- 
vention were  attended.  Summer  schools  were  conducted 
in  eleven  different  stations  and  ten  different  mission  fields 
toured  from  four  to  fifteen  days  each.  Four  hundred 
and  sixty  sermons  or  addresses  were  given  in  Telugu. 
For  six  months  of  the  year  Rev.  D.  Arogiam,  a  Telugu 
preacher,  was  associated  with  Mr.  Boggess  as  fellow 
evangelist  and  proved  himself  a  most  efficient  worker. 

The  evangelistic  forward  movement  of  the  mission 
which  was  inaugurated  four  years  ago,  has  issued  in  a 
number  of  campaigns  which  have  had  a  tremendous  in- 
fluence on  the  Christian  and  the  non-Christian  com- 
munity. The  Christian  community  has  come  to  a  grow- 
ing sense  of  its  responsibility  for  the  evangelization  of 
the  Telugu  people.  In  the  past  two  years  6,851  have 
been  baptized  on  confession  of  their  faith  in  Jesus.  In 
some  cases  it  has  been  reported  that  hundreds  more  might 
be  baptized  and  admitted  into  church  fellowship  if  there 
were  pastors  to  shepherd  them. 

Rev.  E.  E.  Silliman  spent  121  days  in  1921  on  tour, 
visiting  and  holding  services  in  every  one  of  the  160 
villages  in  the  Narsaravupet  field  where  there  are  Chris- 
tians.   Rev.  John  Dussman  in  his  annual  report  says : 

One  hundred  and  thirty  days  were  given  to  touring.  Then 
there  were  also  visits  to  near-by  villages  in  the  station.  It  was 
our  privilege  to  receive  many  converts  by  baptism  into  the  church 
during  the  year.  One  church  added  sixty-one  to  its  number, 
another  eighteen,  another  forty-six,  and  so  on  until  a  total  of 
240  were  received  for  baptism.  This  is  the  largest  number  bap- 
tized in  one  year  for  over  forty  years.  Two  new  churches  wfere 
organized. 

On  our  visit  to  our  South  India  stations  we  reached 
Ongole  from  Calcutta  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  of 


South  India:  The  Gospel  and  Social  Uplift     115 

December  19  and  were  met  at  the  station  by  ten  mis- 
sionaries and  a  company  of  Telugu  Christians  with  a 
band.  After  a  few  hours'  sleep  we  began  the  inspection 
of  the  work  in  this  wonderful  mission  station  where  they 
have  so  signally  been  blessed  of  God  in  the  past  forty 
years.  In  the  first  place  we  went  through  the  Clough 
Memorial  Hospital,  just  reaching  completion.  This  is 
the  largest  hospital  in  the  South  India  Mission,  and  will 
minister  to  a  population  of  330,000.  We  listened  to  the 
Bible  classes  in  the  boys'  school  and  then  visited  the 
girls'  school,  and  the  Sudra  boarding-school.  Of  this 
school  Miss  Ursula  Dresser  says : 

If  you  knew  of  the  prayers  and  years  of  faithful  work  on 
the  part  of  our  touring  missionaries  that  this  Sudra  Boarding 
School  represents,  you  would  understand,  I  know,  why  we  are  so 
eager  for  its  future  growth.  There  are  now  eight  little  Sudra 
girls  in  this  department,  but  this  school  has  such  possibilities  of 
strengthening  the  work  among  the  caste  people  that  we  look  upon 
it  with  faith  that  at  last  these  caste  people  are  to  accept  Chris- 
tianity in  larger  numbers  than  ever  before. 

From  this  school  we  went  to  the  Industrial  School  for 
girls  under  Miss  Kate  W.  Failing's  management,  and 
then  to  the  Industrial  School  for  boys,  conducted  by  Miss 
Amelia  Dessa.  There  is  a  night-school  for  boys  that  has 
an  enrolment  of  eighty  young  men,  all  of  whom  are  try- 
ing hard  to  secure  an  education  under  the  most  discour- 
aging circumstances. 

The  Ongole  field  has  193  village  schools,  102  Sunday 
schools,  and  a  church-membership  of  12,225.  At  the  time 
when  the  first  election  in  India  took  place,  1921,  a  former 
member  of  the  Ongole  church,  Mr.  A  .T.  Palmer,  now 
Head  Master  of  the  Cokanada  High  School  of  the  Cana- 
dian Baptists,  was  elected  to  the  Madras  Legislative 
Council.     Mr.  G.  Vanderman,  the  Head  Master  of  the 


116  Following  the  Pioneers 

Ongole  High  School,  is  also  a  member  of  the  legislative 
assembly,  so  that  these  two  Baptist  Telugu  laymen  are 
now  in  positions  of  responsibility  in  the  Madras  Presi- 
dency with  its  43,000,000  people.  One  afternoon  the 
Christians  of  Ongole  gave  a  garden-party  in  honor  of 
these  two  men,  and  prominent  officials  of  the  city  and  dis- 
trict, together  with  many  leaders  from  the  Hindu  and 
Mohammedan  communities,  were  present.  Rev.  J.  M. 
Baker,  our  missionary  at  Ongole,  was  chairman  of  the 
meeting,  and  many  look  upon  this  occasion  as  giving 
birth  to  a  new  day  of  promise  for  the  people  among 
whom  our  missionaries  have  worked  with  such  enthusiasm 
for  nearly  half  a  century. 

We  spent  Christmas  Day  with  our  missionaries  at 
Madras,  being  the  guests  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  W.  L.  Fer- 
guson. I  preached  Sunday  morning  at  eight  o'clock  to 
our  English-speaking  Baptists  and  again  at  ten  o'clock 
to  the  Telugu  church,  four  hundred  people  crowding  the 
building.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  service,  twenty-seven 
Telugu  young  men  and  women  were  baptized  and  re- 
ceived into  the  church.  The  Telugu  pastor  of  this  church 
is  a  graduate  of  Madras  Christian  College,  a  man  of  out- 
standing ability  and  marked  qualities  of  leadership.  The 
Christmas  offering  of  this  congregation  was  Rs,  104, 
representing  208  days'  wages.  In  the  evening  I  preached 
in  the  Day  Memorial  Church.  This  church  is  composed 
of  English-speaking  Indians,  nearly  all  of  them  college 
graduates  or  college  students.  There  arc  more  than 
4,000  college  students  in  the  city  of  Madras,  and  Doctor 
and  Mrs.  Ferguson  have  opened  their  home  most  gener- 
ously to  these  young  men.  A  devoted  Baptist  layman 
and  his  wife  have  recently  given  $15,000  for  the  erection 
of  a  student  hostel.  This  will  enable  us  to  minister  in  a 
larger  way  to  the  student  life  of  the  city. 


South  India:  The  Gospel  and  Social  Uplift    117 

There  is  no  subject  of  more  consequence  to  Christianity 
in  India  than  that  of  the  independence  of  the  Indian 
church.  In  these  days  of  intense  nationaHsm  there  is  a 
growing  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Indian  Christians  to 
manage  their  own  affairs  independent  of  the  missionary. 
The  question  of  the  transfer  of  responsibihty  from  the 
Mission  to  the  church  is  one  of  the  major  problems  of 
foreign  missionary  administration.  In  this  matter  the 
South  India  Mission  have  taken  commendable  action.  At 
the  Mission  Conference  in  1918,  when  the  Foreign  Secre- 
tary was  in  India,  the  Telugu  Mission  voted  to  transfer 
all  the  work  of  the  Kandukur  field  to  the  Home  Mission 
Society  of  the  Telugu  Baptist  churches.  The  Telugu 
churches  have  accepted  this  responsibility  with  deep  seri- 
ousness, and  are  carrying  on  the  work  in  this  field  in  a 
most  acceptable  way.  This  movement  toward  self-gov- 
ernment has  justified  itself,  and  undoubtedly  another  field 
will,  in  the  near  future,  be  transferred  to  the  Conven- 
tion. The  Secretary  of  the  Telugu  Home  Mission  So- 
ciety, an  Indian,  reports  as  follows  in  regard  to  Kan- 
dukur : 

It  is  a  joy  to  know  how  the  churches  have  taken  up  this  work. 
There  is  a  universal  feeling  of  ownership  on  the  heart  of  every 
Telugu  Baptist  Christian — a  new  responsibihty,  a  new  love.  They 
have  become  unselfish  and  their  vision  is  broadened  since  they 
have  got  to  be  beyond  their  own  church  interests.  Some  churches 
have  regular  days  for  praying  and  talking  about  this  work.  They 
have  invented  several  methods  of  raising  funds  for  this  work. 
Some,  for  example,  have  pledged  a  certain  percentage  of  their 
monthly  income,  and  others  a  certain  amount  for  every  member 
of  the  church.  Women's  Societies  and  Christian  Endeavor  So- 
cieties have  done  the  same.  A  letter  has  come  from  Mrs.  John 
Rangiah,  Natal,  Africa,  saying  that  their  Women's  Society  wants 
to  support  a  preacher  or  two  in  Kandukur  field.  The  Bapatla 
Senior  Christian  Endeavor  Society  for  training-school  students  is 
regularly  contributing  not  less  than  Rs.  8  per  month  except  dur- 


118  Following  the  Pioneers 

ing  vacation  months.  The  bachelor  students  of  the  Ramapatnam 
Seminary  have  set  up  what  they  call  a  "  Kandukur  box "  into 
which  every  student  puts  a  little  rice  before  he  cooks  his  food. 
The  Nalgonda  church  has  appointed,  for  the  whole  or  a  part  of 
the  year,  a  man  to  go  about  that  mission  field  to  speak  on  behalf 
of  the  Kandukur  work. 

The  Christians  of  Kandukur  field  itself  are  feeling  the  respon- 
sibility of  the  work  more  than  others.  There  are  many  who  are 
doing  voluntary  service.  They  go  about  witnessing  for  Christ, 
teach  Sunday  schools,  and  help  in  various  other  ways.  There  are 
not  less  than  twenty  such  voluntary  workers.  Many  of  them 
come  to  the  monthly  meetings  at  their  own  expense. 

The  non-Christian  people  of  Kandukur  have  cooperated  much 
in  the  work.  If  it  is  not  due  to  faith  in  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ,  at  least  it  is  due  to  patriotism.  They  feel  glad  that  their 
Christian  friends  are  having  self-government,  although  it  is  of 
the  religious  form.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  what  the  Hindus 
have  been  doing  for  Kandukur  Christians.  When  the  monthly 
meetings  are  held  in  the  villages,  the  Hindus  of  the  village  gladly 
offer  their  help.  In  several  villages  where  the  meetings  were  held, 
the  headman  of  the  village  took  special  interest  in  the  Christians 
and  helped  them. 

The  comprehensive  scope  of  the  work  of  the  Telugu 
Mission,  its  solid  character,  and  the  influence  of  the  in- 
stitutions organized  in  the  mission,  together  with  the 
growing  independence  and  initiative  of  the  South  India 
churches  and  the  Telugu  Baptist  Convention,  make  us 
most  hopeful  of  the  future  of  this  work.  The  kingdom 
of  God  is  advancing  in  the  Lone  Star  Mission. 


VI 


BENGAL- ORISSA:  THE  VERDUN 
OF  HINDUISM 


The  prudent  policy  for  an  army  hard  pressed  is  to  shorten  its 
lines.  It  may  be  assumed  that  the  Church  is  hard  pressed  both  in 
men  and  in  material ;  its  wisdom,  therefore,  would  appear  to  lie 
in  a  bold  shortening  of  the  lines.  .  .  But  the  Church  with  one 
voice  has  rejected  this  logic.  .  .  The  unpardonable  sin  for  a  modern 
man  is  to  despair  of  the  human  family,  or  to  demand  a  safety  for 
himself  or  his  people  which  is  not  offered  to  all.  We  are  not 
saved,  it  has  been  well  said,  except  in  a  saved  race.  The  Church, 
believing,  as  it  must  do,  that  in  its  gospel  there  is  a  sure  spiritual 
foundation  for  mankind,  cannot  limit  its  vision  or  its  service. — 
The  London  Times. 


MEALTIME  AT  SINCLAIR  ORPHANAGE 
Balasore,  Bengal-Orissa 


BENGAL- ORISSA:  THE  VERDUN 
OF  HINDUISM 


India  is  the  most  difficult  mission  field  in  the  world,  and 
Bengal  is  the  most  difficult  field  in  India.  It  has  been 
well  called  the  Verdun  of  Hinduism.  Baptists  in  Bengal- 
Orissa  hold  one  of  the  most  difficult  and  at  the  same 
time  one  of  the  most  important  sectors  in  the  great 
foreign-mission  battle-line  of  the  church  of  the  living  God 
in  the  non-Christian  world.  As  Bengal  thinks  today, 
India  thinks  tomorrow.  Bengal  is  the  first  province  in 
intellectual  attainment  in  India.  The  poet  Tagore  and 
many  of  the  Indian  nationalistic  leaders  are  natives  of 
Bengal.  Here  has  been  the  home  of  the  Szvaraj  move- 
ment which  is  now  sweeping  India.  The  people  of  Bengal 
have  had  until  the  present,  at  least,  more  national  pride 
than  any  other  province,  and  hence  they  have  clung  most 
stubbornly  to  Hinduism,  their  national  religion.  The 
Bengali  is  probably  the  most  conceited  Indian.  His  edu- 
cation, social  position,  and  Aryan  blood  all  combine  to 
make  him  feel  superior  and  make  him  most  difficult  to 
reach  with  the  gospel  message.  When  the  day  comes 
that  Bengal  shall  have  been  won  for  Christ,  the  conquest 
of  India  will  then  be  at  hand. 

American  missionaries  have  been  working  in  Bengal 
and  the  southern  part  of  Bihar-Orissa  since  1836  when 
Rev.  and  Mrs.  Jeremiah  Phillips  and  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Eli 
Noyes,  who  sailed  from  Boston  on  September  22.  1835, 
went  out  as  the  first  missionaries  of  the  Free  Will  Bap- 
tist Foreign  Mission  Society  which  had  been  organized 

121 


122  Following  the  Pioneers 

two  years  previous.  Arriving  upon  the  field  they  co- 
operated with  the  Enghsh  Baptists,  already  located  at 
Cuttack,  in  establishing  the  work.  At  the  time  Orissa, 
now  a  division  of  the  Bihar-Orissa  Province,  was  sepa- 
rate, and  as  work  overlapped  the  two  Provinces,  the  Mis- 
sion was  called  Bengal-Orissa.  With  the  union  of  the 
Baptists  and  Free  Will  Baptists  the  Mission  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society 
in  1911. 

The  Bengal-Orissa  Mission  occupies  the  Balasore  Dis- 
trict of  the  Bihar-Orissa  Province  and  the  Midnapore  Dis- 
trict of  the  Bengal  Province.  We  work  among  three 
races,  namely,  Bengalis,  Oriyas,  and  Santals.  The  San- 
tals,  a  hardy,  aboriginal  tribe,  are  animists  and  are  espe- 
cially open-minded  toward  Christianity.  In  Balasore  dis- 
trict, we  are  responsible  for  an  area  of  1,000  square  miles, 
nearly  as  large  as  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  with  a 
population  of  1,500,000,  which  is  greater  than  that  of 
Connecticut.  The  literacy  in  this  district  is  very  low, 
only  68,468  males  and  2,913  females  out  of  a  million 
people  being  able  to  read  and  write. 

In  this  field,  for  which  the  American  Baptist  Foreign 
Mission  Society  is  almost  wholly  responsible,  we  have 
four  missionary  families,  five  single  women,  and  one 
single  man.  In  the  Midnapore  District  of  the  Bengal 
Province,  we  are  responsible  for  a  total  population  of 
2,638,633,  equal  to  the  State  of  Wisconsin.  We  have 
for  this  field  five  missionary  families  and  three  single 
women.  If  either  Rev.  J.  A.  Howard  at  Contai  or  Rev. 
H.  E.  Long  at  Midnapore  were  to  visit  three  villages  a 
day  in  their  fields  continuously  for  three  hundred  and 
sixty-five  days  out  of  each  year,  one  generation  would 
have  passed  away  before  they  could  get  around  to  visit 
all  the  villages  in  their  respective  fields. 


Bengal-Orissa:  The  Verdun  of  Hinduism     123 

The  pioneer  in  this  mission  was  Dr.  Jeremiah  PhilHps. 
The  family  of  Doctor  PhiUips  has  given  eighteen  mem- 
bers to  mission  work  in  India,  making  a  united  service 
of  two  hundred  and  twenty  years.  The  first  permanent 
station  was  in  the  old  city  of  Balasore,  a  city  of  21,000 
population,  where  we  have  today  a  large  and  most  suc- 
cessful work.  We  have  here  a  boys'  high  school  with 
one  hundred  and  forty-one  boys.  The  head  master  of 
the  school  is  a  product  of  our  educational  system  in  this 
field.  On  graduating  from  this  high  school,  he  received 
his  college  education  and  a  graduate  course  in  teaching  at 
the  Government  College  through  money  loaned  to  him 
by  the  Mission.  He  has  paid  this  all  back  in  full  with  in- 
terest, and  is  today  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  workers 
in  the  school  and  in  the  church.  Another  graduate  of 
this  school  has  been  for  many  years  a  prominent  lawyer 
at  Balasore,  who  in  February  gave  up  a  good  practise 
and  a  large  income  to  accept  appointment  as  the  first  In- 
dian Christian  to  be  placed  in  full  charge  of  a  mission 
station.  He  is  now  in  charge  of  the  work  at  Santipore 
and  has  already  been  greatly  blessed  in  winning  a  number 
of  Hindus  to  Christianity. 

At  Balasore  the  Woman's  Society  has  a  Widows'  Home, 
organized  into  an  industrial  school  which  carries  on  an 
extensive  work  in  lace-making.  The  Sinclair  Orphanage 
at  Balasore,  maintained  by  the  missionaries  of  the  Wo- 
man's American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society,  pro- 
vides a  home  for  orphan  children  and  takes  in  children 
of  poor  stumbling  Christian  parents  for  whom  there 
would  otherwise  be  no  future.  Some  eighty  girls,  rang- 
ing in  age  from  babyhood  to  fifteen  years  are  provided 
with  a  good  home  and  taught  sewing,  cooking,  and  house- 
keeping as  well  as  given  the  usual  classroom  instruction. 
There  is  also  a  girls'  school  with  an  enrolment  of  ninety- 


124  Following  the  Pioneers 

five,  the  only  school  in  this  city  of  twenty  thousand 
where  a  girl  can  receive  an  education  above  the  fourth 
standard.  About  two  hundred  married  women  in  zenanas 
were  visited  last  year  by  missionaries  of  the  Woman's 
Society. 

One  of  the  primary  aims  of  the  missionary  enterprise, 
along  with  the  teaching  and  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  evangelization  of  the  inhabitants,  is  the  develop- 
ment of  a  higher  and  nobler  individual  and  community 
life.  This  can  best  be  brought  about  by  showing  the 
people  how  better  to  provide  for  their  economic  and 
spiritual  needs.  One  of  the  purposes  of  our  mission 
work  is  to  enable  these  untrained,  uneducated  people  with 
whom  we  come  in  contact  to  take  their  proper  place  as 
citizens  of  the  world,  and  to  enable  them  to  develop 
higher  ideals  and  a  better  conception  of  home  and  com- 
munity life.  For  this  reason  the  work  of  such  schools  as 
the  Boys'  Industrial  School  at  Balasore  is  coming  today 
to  play  an  important  part  in  the  development  of  the  mis- 
sionary program  throughout  the  world.  This  school  at 
Balasore  is  one  of  the  largest  and  best-equipped  indus- 
trial institutions  anywhere  in  Bihar  and  Orissa.  The 
school  operates  a  factory  where  every  boy  receives  pay 
for  his  work  according  to  its  merits.  The  products  of 
the  school  are  sold,  and  by  this  arrangement  the  boys 
are  partly  able  to  finance  their  education,  and  funds  for 
the  maintenance  and  development  of  the  school  are  pro- 
vided. One  year  the  sale  of  products  amounted  to  nearly 
$10,000.  Boys  from  our  high  schools  who  have  never 
handled  a  tool  in  their  lives,  and  boys  who  have  failed  to 
make  good  in  their  studies,  come  to  this  school.  Here 
men,  who  in  their  home  environments  could  not  possibly 
earn  more  than  from  two  to  three  dollars  a  month,  be- 
come carpenters,  cabinet-makers,  blacksmiths,  iron-fitters, 


Bengal-Orissa:  The  Verdun  of  Hinduism     125 

motor  mechanics  and  drivers  and  electrical  fitters,  at  many- 
times  that  salary,  and  in  addition  are  taught  to  become 
useful  and  productive  members  of  society.  The  school 
recently  sent  one  of  its  students  to  the  Rakha  Copper 
Mines  where  he  qualified  as  an  electrical  fitter,  and  after 
a  month's  work  the  superintendent  of  the  mines  wrote 
asking  for  eleven  more  such  students.  There  is  a  decided 
Christian  spirit  in  the  school,  and  a  number  are  con- 
tinually breaking  from  Hinduism  and  accepting  Christ. 
The  superintendent  writes  that  the  most  urgent  need 
in  the  school  now  is  a  trained  Indian  Christian  worker 
to  serve  as  chaplain,  Bible  teacher,  and  personal  worker 
among  the  boys  of  the  school.  The  Baptist  church  at 
Balasore  has  a  membership  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  and, 
in  addition  to  supporting  its  own  pastor,  supports  an 
Indian  preacher  as  an  evangelist  in  the  district.  The 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  supports  another  evangelist. 
There  are  ten  organized  churches  in  the  district  with 
a  total  membership  of  two  thousand. 

In  the  Bengal  part  of  the  field  we  have  five  stations: 
IMidnapore,  Kharagpur,  Bhimpore,  Contai,  and  Jam- 
shedpur.  Midnapore  is  a  city  of  43,000.  It  is  the  third 
largest  city  in  Bengal-Orissa.  It  is  the  headquarters  of 
the  Midnapore  District,  and  an  important  commercial 
center  with  a  Government  college  of  eight  hundred  stu- 
dents. The  Indian  National  Y.  M.  C.  A.  has  a  fine  build- 
ing and  has  located  a  secretary  at  this  important  center. 
Here  is  our  Bible  school,  where  practically  every  evan- 
gelist and  pastor  in  the  mission  has  been  trained.  We 
have  a  self-supporting  church,  and  in  addition  are  doing 
work  for  the  men  of  the  Government  college.  Midnapore 
is  one  of  the  Nationalistic  centers  of  India.  The  Swa- 
dashji  movement  began  here.  Midnapore  is  a  center  of 
Hinduism.     There  are  more  than  two  hundred  Hindu 


126  Following  the  Pioneers 

temples  and  shrines  in  the  city.  There  is  a  large  temple 
here  to  the  Goddess  Kali.  Kali,  formerly  the  patron  god- 
dess, represented  by  a  figure  of  horrible  aspect,  is  every- 
where worshiped  in  Bengal.  Kali-ma,  Mother  Kali,  as 
she  is  often  affectionately  called,  is  one  aspect  of  the 
Goddess  Durga,  the  wife  of  Siva.  She  is  represented 
as  a  four-armed  being  in  one  of  whose  hands  is  a  sword 
and  in  another  a  human  head.  Around  her  head  is  a 
necklace  of  human  skulls.  Her  bloody  tongue  is  thrust 
well  out,  and  she  stands  with  one  foot  on  her  prostrate 
husband.  This  remarkable  appearance  came  about  in  the 
following  way.  One  time  the  earth  was  infested  with 
demons,  and  Kali  set  out  to  destroy  them.  She  slaugh- 
tered them  in  multitudes,  but  the  continual  shedding  of 
blood  finally  unbalanced  her  mind,  and  she  set  about 
slaying  people  as  well.  Siva  feared  that  she  would  soon 
destroy  the  whole  human  race,  but  she  was  so  entirely 
mad  that  no  command  or  threats  even  from  him  would 
stop  her  wild  career.  Finally  Siva  threw  himself  down 
in  her  path,  but  she  did  not  see  him  until  she  had  stepped 
on  him.  When  she  saw  that  she  had  stepped  on  her 
husband  she  thrust  out  her  tongue  in  shocked  surprise  and 
stopped  at  once.  Thus  the  human  race  was  saved  from 
annihilation. 

In  this  center  of  Hinduism  our  missionaries  have  won 
many  to  Christianity.  Among  these  is  Chundra  Lela, 
who  shares  with  Pandita  Ramabai  the  distinction  of  be- 
ing the  best-known  Christian  woman  of  India.  Chundra 
Lela  was  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  Brahmin  *n  the  moun- 
tainous country  of  Nepal.  At  the  age  of  seven  she 
was  married  in  great  pomp  to  the  only  son  of  a  Brahmin 
family.  Three  years  later  her  husband  died  and  Chundra 
Lela  was  that  most  despised  of  all  creatures,  a  Hindu 
child  widow.     She  remained  in  her  own  father's  house 


Bengal-Orissa :  The  Verdun  of  Hinduism     127 

until  she  was  thirteen.  Her  father,  a  learned  man,  taught 
her  to  read  her  own  language  and  also  to  read  Sanskrit, 
the  mother  of  all  Indian  languages.  At  this  time  she 
went  with  her  father  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Jagannath,  a 
sacred  shrine  in  Orissa.  There  her  father  died,  and  she 
returned  with  fellow  pilgrims  to  Nepal.  In  her  Hindu 
sacred  books,  she  learned  of  the  promise  of  the  pardon  by 
visiting  and  worshiping  at  the  four  great  shrines  situated 
at  the  four  cardinal  points  of  India,  for  the  sin,  which 
according  to  Hinduism  had  caused  her  widowhood.  With 
two  maid  servants,  she  stole  away  one  night  in  search  of 
God.  She  visited  first  the  temple  of  Jagannath,  near 
Balasore,  erected  in  honor  of  Jagannath,  the  lord  of  the 
earth.  This  is  one  of  the  ugliest  gods  in  the  Hindu 
pantheon.  A  second  of  the  great  shrines  of  India  that 
she  visited  is  Ramanath  on  a  small  island  not  far  from 
Madras.  Here  the  God  Ram  with  the  help  of  an  army 
of  monkeys  bridged  the  strait  between  India  and  Ceylon 
to  rescue  the  beautiful  wife  Sita.  The  third  famous 
shrine  to  which  she  made  pilgrimage  is  the  temple  Dwa- 
raknath  in  the  extreme  west  of  India,  the  scene  of  the 
actions  of  Krishna,  the  vilest  god  of  Hinduism.  Millions 
of  pilgrims  visit  this  place,  for  it  is  written  in  the  Holy 
Rook  of  Hinduism,  "  Whoever  visits  that  holy  shrine, 
the  place  where  Krishna  pursued  his  sports,  is  liberated 
from  all  sins."  The  last  of  the  four  great  shrines,  Bad- 
rinath,  is  in  the  extreme  north  of  India,  erected  high  up 
amid  the  snows  of  the  Himalayas,  in  honor  of  Vishnu. 
With  bare  feet  cut  and  bleeding,  Chundra  Lela  with  her 
companions  climbed  this  mountain  of  snow  and  ice  in 
search  of  forgiveness  and  peace.  Seven  years  had  passed 
in  this  pilgrimage  in  search  of  God,  and  not  yet  had 
she  found  him.  Continuing  her  pilgrimages  she  later 
became  a  priestess  of  one  of  the  Indian  rajas  or  native 


128  Following  the  Pioneers 

princes,  who  had  a  residence  near  Midnapore.  She  re- 
mained here  seven  years,  held  in  holy  reverence  by  all, 
but  yet  she  had  not  found  the  rest  and  peace  for  which 
her  soul  craved.  She  decided  on  a  last  resort,  and  deter- 
mined to  spend  three  years  in  bodily  torture,  subject- 
ing herself  to  every  cruelty  enjoined  in  the  sacred  books 
of  Hinduism.  The  story  of  her  sufferings  and  tortures 
during  these  three  years  is  most  pitiable.  At  the  end  she 
said,  "  I  have  done  and  suffered  all  that  could  be  required 
of  mortals  by  God  or  man,  and  yet  without  avail."  Re- 
turning to  Midnapore,  she  was  found  one  day  by  our 
missionary,  who  told  her  of  the  gospel  of  divine  love 
and  forgiveness.  With  her  great  intelligence  and  her 
suffering,  searching  heart,  she  accepted  the  gospel  at  once, 
and  a  few  weeks  later  was  baptized  by  Doctor  Phillips. 
From  that  day  she  became  a  wonderful  Christian  worker 
and  traveled  far  and  wide,  not  only  in  Bengal-Orissa, 
but  in  distant  provinces,  telling  everywhere  the  story  of 
Jesus  and  God's  love.  At  the  great  mela,  or  Hindu 
feast,  at  Allahabad,  where  thousands  come  every  year,  she 
spent  a  month  preaching.  And  so  all  over  India  and 
Assam,  where  she  formerly  traveled  as  a  Hindu  priestess, 
she  now  traveled  preaching  Jesus.  In  far-away  Nepal 
where  no  missionary  had  ever  gone,  where  twenty-seven 
years  before  she  had  started  on  her  wearisome  search, 
she  preached  to  her  own  family  and  won  her  own  brother 
to  Christ. 

One  day  in  Midnapore,  after  the  Mission  Conference, 
our  missionaries  told  her  they  were  going  to  build  her 
a  house  where  she  could  live  her  last  days  in  peace  and 
comfort.  "  If  you  will  build  me  a  house,"  she  said,  "  build 
it  on  the  roadside  so  that  when  I  am  too  old  to  walk,  I 
may  crawl  up  to  the  door  and  preach  to  the  people  as  they 
go  by  on  their  pilgrimages  to  Jagannath."     Here  in  a 


HINDU  GODDESS  KALI 
Midnapore,  Bengal-Orissa 


Bengal-Orissa:  The  Verdun  of  Hinduism     129 

house  by  the  side  of  the  road  she  spent  her  last  days, 
loved  and  honored  by  all  who  knew  her,  a  blessing  to  all 
who  passed  her  door. 

Khanto  Bela  Rai,  one  of  the  Jubilee  guests  of  the 
Woman's  Board  in  America  in  1921,  comes  from  Midna- 
pore.  Her  father,  one  of  the  most  devoted  spiritual 
men  who  ever  lived,  because  of  his  exceptional  ability 
received  many  tempting  offers  to  go  elsewhere,  but  his 
fine  sense  of  loyalty  kept  him  to  the  last  as  a  preacher 
among  his  own  people.  His  father  was  a  Government 
official,  a  Brahmin.  While  a  student  in  the  high  school 
he  secured  a  Gospel  from  one  of  our  preachers  and 
was  converted  to  Christianity.  He  was  a  man  of  deep 
spiritual  power,  a  preacher  of  surpassing  ability,  and  was 
loved  and  honored  by  men  of  all  creeds  and  castes  in 
Midnapore. 

An  interesting  story  is  told  of  a  young  Scotchman  who 
came  to  India  to  enter  the  Government  service.  He  was 
the  product  of  a  devout,  Christian  home  and  before 
him  was  a  promising  future.  His  first  location  was 
Midnapore,  Bengal.  Regularly  he  attended  the  Bengali 
church  services,  and  he  was  very  friendly  with  the  mis- 
sionaries. While  he  was  calling  at  the  mission  bunga- 
low one  evening,  he  said  to  the  missionary :  "  Well,  I 
have  gone  and  done  it.  They  say  that  a  man  cannot 
live  in  India  and  keep  his  health  without  taking  a  peg 
of  whisky  each  day,  so  I've  taken  my  first  one  today." 
Miss  L.  C.  Coombs,  a  missionary  of  thirty  years'  ex- 
perience, to  whom  he  was  talking,  knew  how  this  news 
would  cut  the  hearts  of  his  Christian  parents,  and  what 
a  blow  it  was  to  their  hopes.  She  also  knew  what  it 
meant  to  him — it  was  the  first  step  in  the  wrong  direction. 
Her  feeling  in  the  matter  was  so  intense  that  her  plea 
ended  with  tears. 


130  Following  the  Pioneers 

He  went  to  his  bungalow.  Time  passed  by.  His  worth 
was  recognized,  and  he  was  made  private  secretary  to 
the  Governor  of  Bengal.  With  his  advance  in  position 
came  an  enlarging  influence.  His  name  was  linked  with 
all  kinds  of  good  enterprises  in  the  uplift  of  India  whether 
Christian  or  non-Christian. 

In  1919,  Miss  Coombs  was  to  speak  at  a  public  meet- 
ing in  Darjeeling.  It  happened  that  this  same  Scotchman 
was  presiding  at  this  occasion.  In  introducing  Miss 
Coombs,  he  went  back  to  the  time  he  was  magistrate 
at  Midnapore  and  told  this  incident.  He  said,  ''  I  went 
home  that  night  and  said  to  myself,  '  If  a  peg  of  whiskey 
will  cause  any  woman  tears,  even  if  I  die  in  India,  I 
shall  never  touch  another  drop  of  it,  and  I  have  not 
from  that  day  to  this.'  "  Just  at  a  wavering  moment  in 
his  career,  the  steadying  influence  of  a  Christian  mission- 
ary helped  him  and  saved  him  to  a  life  of  enlarging  in- 
fluence and  service. 

Kharagpur,  where  twenty-five  years  ago  our  mission- 
aries hunted  the  bears  and  tigers  in  the  jungle,  is  today 
a  great  railroad  center,  housing  the  largest  railway  shops 
in  India.  We  have  here  a  church  for  English-speaking 
people,  which  although  small,  exerts  a  powerful  moral 
and  spiritual  influence  on  the  city,  and  ministers  to  an 
important  part  of  the  population.  An  Indian  church  has 
grown  up  here  which  is  entirely  self-supporting,  and 
through  the  gift  of  Dr.  J.  T.  Ward,  formerly  a  teacher 
at  Hillsdale  College,  Michigan,  we  have  recently  erected 
the  Ward  Memorial  Church  building.  The  Indian  pastor 
of  this  church  reports  having  baptized  Hindu  converts 
every  month  during  the  past  year. 

Contai  is  the  subdivisional  headquarters  of  one  of  the 
most  populous  centers  of  all  India,  having  nearly  nine 
hundred  per  square  mile.    Contai  is  an  important  student 


Bengal-Orissa:  The  Verdun  of  Hinduism     131 

center  and  is  said  to  have  more  college  graduates  than 
any  place  of  its  size  in  India. 

Bhimpore,  the  center  of  our  work  for  200,000  Santals, 
is  one  of  the  most  important  Bengal-Orissa  stations. 
Work  was  begun  here  in  1873  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  J.  L. 
Phillips  and  Miss  Julia  Phillips,  who  made  their  first 
home  with  the  natives  in  a  rude  mud-and-thatched  house. 
The  Government  has  turned  over  to  the  Baptists  the 
entire  management  of  the  Santals'  education,  so  that  the 
opportunities  here  are  unique.  We  have  in  the  village 
schools  of  this  field  an  enrolment  of  nearly  two  thousand 
boys  and  girls. 

The  illiteracy  of  the  people  greatly  retards  the  progress 
of  the  Christianity  in  Bengal.  The  influence  of  Christian- 
ity on  education  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  Bihar  and 
Orissa  where  the  proportion  of  Indian  Christians  who 
are  literate  is  sixty-seven  per  thousand  as  compared  with 
five  per  thousand  among  their  animistic  neighbors.  For 
the  first  time  in  many  years  we  have  two  families  here, 
and  we  hope  to  develop  the  Bhimpore  school  into  a 
high  school  for  boys  and  girls  and  to  press  the  evan- 
gelistic work  among  the  responsive  Santals.  We  have 
faith  to  believe  that  great  victories  are  to  be  won  in  the 
Bhimpore  field. 

The  last  station  to  be  organized  in  the  Bengal-Orissa 
Mission  is  Jamshedpur,  one  of  the  most  interesting  cities 
in  all  India.  In  1908,  Jamshedpur  was  a  barren  desert 
with  a  few  mud  huts.  Today  it  has  a  population  of  one 
hundred  thousand  and  is  one  of  the  most  rriodern  and 
up-to-date  cities  in  the  Indian  Empire.  It  is  a  story  of 
romance,  courage,  and  vigor.  In  1902,  Mr.  Jamsheedji 
Tata,  a  leading  member  of  the  Parsee  community  of  Bom- 
bay, having  conceived  the  idea  of  starting  the  steel  indus- 
try, visited  the  United  States.     Mr.  Tata  met  a  mining 


132  Following  the  Pioneers 

engineer  in  New  York,  who  was  impressed  with  the  won- 
derful personaHty  of  Mr.  Tata  and  with  his  scheme, 
though  it  seemed  most  visionary.  This  engineer,  Mr. 
Perin,  finally  agreed  to  send  a  party  of  American  prospec- 
tors to  India.  Long  was  the  search  and  many  the  hard- 
ships undergone  when,  in  an  area  hitherto  almost  unknown 
and  unexplored,  deposits  of  coal  and  iron  were  discovered. 
Mr.  Jamsheedji  Tata  died  before  he  could  see  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  dreams,  but  his  son,  Sir  Dorab  Tata,  proved 
worthy  of  his  father,  and  when  he  failed  to  find  finan- 
cial support  in  London  for  this  enterprise  of  such  im- 
portance to  the  Indian  Empire,  he  appealed  to  his  In- 
dian fellow  countryment  for  the  capital  needed.  The 
response  was  immediate,  and  the  Tata  Iron  and  Steel 
Company  was  launched,  the  greatest  industrial  concern  in 
India.  Today,  just  fourteen  years  after  the  first  stake 
was  driven  in  the  ground,  Jamshedpur  with  its  one 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  its  beautiful  roads,  parks, 
school  buildings,  hospitals,  and  other  institutions  for  the 
welfare  of  its  people,  is  the  Pittsburgh  of  India.  There 
are  forty-four  thousand  people  on  the  pay-roll  of  the 
company,  and  its  subsidiary  branches,  also  located  here, 
employ  large  numbers  of  men.  Several  hundred  Amer- 
icans are  employed  at  the  plant,  the  chief  engineer  and 
manager  being  Americans.  The  company  is  turning 
out  daily  nine  hundred  tons  of  pig  iron  and  four  hun- 
dred tons  of  rails.  During  the  war  it  was  rails  produced 
at  Jamshedpur  that  made  possible  the  victorious  cam- 
paigns in  Syria  and  Mesopotamia.  When  the  war  was 
over.  Lord  Chelmsford,  the  \^iceroy,  visited  Jamshedpur 
to  express  the  gratitude  of  the  government.  "  I  can 
hardly  imagine,"  he  said,  "  what  we  would  have  done  if 
the  Tata  Company  had  not  been  able  to  give  us  steel  rails 
which  provided  not  only  Mesopotamia  but  Egypt,  Pales- 


TATA  IRON  WORKS  FROM  A  DISTANCE 
Jamshedpur,  Bengal-rOrissa 


Rev.  O.  L.  SWANSON  PREACHING  FROM 
A  MOTOR-CAR 

Golaghat,  Assam 


Bengal-Orissa :  The  Verdun  of  Hinduism     133 

tine,  and  East  Africa.''  With  all  its  wealth  and  modern 
improvements  Jamshedpur  is  a  place  of  the  rankest  mate- 
rialism. Many  young  men  from  our  Christian  communi- 
ties have  been  attracted  here  by  big  wages.  Our  mis- 
sionaries, following  these  young  men,  felt  the  appeal  also 
of  their  fellow  Americans  in  this  far-away  city,  and  in 
1919  we  opened  a  mission  station.  We  have  built  a  com- 
modious bungalow  for  the  missionaries.  Rev.  and  Mrs. 
Zo  Browne,  with  a  large  room  on  the  first  floor  where 
will  be  held  Sunday  evening  services  for  these  Americans. 
There  is  an  Episcopal  Church  and  a  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  the  city,  but  as  the  Episcopal  Bishop  said,  the 
Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society  is  especially  needed  in 
Jamshedpur  for  the  Indian  work. 

We  already  have  here  a  strong  Indian  church.  The 
pastor,  Rev.  Amrit  Babu,  has  had  a  most  difficult  ex- 
perience and  one  that  has  fully  tested  his  faith  during 
his  first  three  years  at  Jamshedpur.  In  this  crowded 
city  it  was  impossible  to  find  a  house.  Quite  often  he 
spent  the  night  in  the  bazaar.  One  by  one  he  searched 
out  the  Christians  and  won  their  affection.  For  about 
two  years  they  worshiped  in  each  other's  homes  and  then 
for  some  months  in  a  tent. 

The  following  interesting  story  of  one  of  these  converts 
was  written  in  Bengali  by  the  Indian  pastor  and  translated 
into  English  by  his  son : 

In  1918  when  I  first  came  to  Jamshedpur,  then  the  condition 
of  the  Christian  community  was  too  bad.  In  plain  terms,  their 
condition  was  so  bad  that  when  I  used  to  pray  with  them,  they 
knelt  with  me  in  order  to  pray,  but  finishing  my  prayer,  I  found 
them  gone.  Now  it  is  very  happy  thing  that  the  church  has 
been  organized,  and  I  have  found  some  hundred  members  con- 
sisting of  men,  women,  and  children  for  Christ  the  Saviour.  But 
sorry  to  say  we  have  no  church  building  in  which  to  worship  our 
God.     Now  we  gather  together  in  the  house  of  a  Christian  man 


134  Following  the  Pioneers 

who  was  a  half-caste  over  just  two  and  half  years  ago.  But 
now  he  has  turned  his  mind  to  God  and  accepted  Christ  as  his 
Saviour  miraculously.  One  day  his  wife  was  very  sick,  she  had 
very  little  chance  of  living.  At  that  time  her  husband,  that  man, 
sent  for  me.  I  went  there  and  found  him  intoxicated  and  mourn- 
ful about  his  wife.  I  sat  up  two  nights  near  her  bedside,  and 
began  to  pray  ceaselessly.  She  recovered  in  a  few  days.  I  began 
to  work  for  God  to  gain  that  man.  I  gave  him  several  books 
and  advised  him  to  read  Scripture,  and  thus  within  a  few  days 
he  turned  from  sin,  and  now  he  is  a  good  Christian.  Now  I 
am  very  glad,  and  also  there  is  joy  in  heaven  because  God  has 
said,  "  There  is  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth." 

The  church  now  numbers  seventy-five  men  and  twenty- 
five  women.  Only  a  few  of  the  men  have  as  yet  brought 
their  families  to  Jamshedpur.  It  is  interesting  to  find 
BengaH,  Telugu,  and  Oriyan  Christians  all  worshiping 
together.  Money  has  been  appropriated  for  the  church 
building  and  a  pastor's  house,  and  Baptists  are  now  in  a 
position  to  do  a  helpful  work  in  this  wonderful  city. 

Mission  work  in  Bengal-Orissa  is  greatly  handicapped 
by  the  institution  of  caste  which  is  intimately  bound  up 
with  the  very  structure  of  Hindu  society.  In  no  other 
section  of  the  Indian  Empire  is  the  system  more  pro- 
nounced than  in  Bengal,  where  it  holds  everything  in  its 
iron  grip  and  presents  an  obstacle  almost  insuperable  to 
modern  ideas  and  the  acceptance  of  Christianity  on  the 
part  of  the  people.  "  The  regeneration  of  the  Indian 
people,  to  my  mind,"  says  the  great  poet-philosopher 
Rabindranath  Tagore, 

directly  and  perhaps  solely  depends  upon  the  removal  of  this 
condition  of  caste.  When  I  realize  the  hypnotic  hold  this  gigantic 
system  of  cold-blooded  repression  has  taken  on  the  minds  of  our 
people,  whose  social  body  it  has  so  completely  entwined  in  its 
endless  evils  that  the  free  expression  of  manhood,  even  under 
the  direct  necessity,  has  become  almost  an  impossibility,  the  only 


Bengal-Orissa:  The  Verdun  of  Hinduism     135 

remedy  that  suggests  itself  to  me  is  to  educate  them  out  of  their 
trance.  .  .  Must  we  not  have  that  great  vision  of  humanity  which 
will  impel  us  to  shake  ofif  the  fetters  that  shackle  our  individual 
life,  before  we  begin  to  dream  of  national  freedom? 

The  Christians  of  the  Bengal-Orissa  field  have  a  Home 
Mission  Society,  and  the  churches  are  organized  into  a 
"  Yearly  ]^Ieeting "  of  the  Bengal-Orissa  Baptist  Con- 
vention. The  conduct  of  the  evangelistic  work  of  the 
mission  has  been  transferred  to  the  evangelistic  Board 
of  this  Convention.  This  Board  is  composed  of  nine 
members,  six  of  whom  are  Indians.  There  is  an  in- 
creasing interest  in  self-support  and  independence  which 
is  prophetic  of  larger  results  in  this  most  interesting  and 
most  difficult  field  in  which  Northern  Baptists  are  work- 
ing. At  the  last  meeting  of  the  Convention  which  was 
held  at  Bhimpore,  Rev.  William  Carey,  the  great-grand- 
son of  the  foimder  of  modern  missions,  was  present. 

Dr.  H.  R.  Murphy,  our  veteran  missionary  of  the 
Bengal-Orissa  Mission,  concluded  his  paper  to  the  Annual 
Conference  with  these  words : 

For  a  century  we  have  been  trying  to  arouse  India,  a  somnolent 
giant.  We  had  almost  despaired  of  even  quieting  his  snore  but 
behold,  today  that  giant  is  sitting  up.  Caste,  the  unquestioned 
social  order  of  India  for  a  thousand  years,  while  still  in  the 
field,  is  denounced  or  condoned  by  the  masses.  The  priests  are 
frantic  in  the  realization  of  their  waning  power.  We  of  only 
twfenty  years  of  service  have  witnessed  miracles.  The  impos- 
sible has  come  to  pass.  As  a  result  of  their  contact  with  the 
missionary  and  his  life  in  India,  unnumbered  thousands  enumerated 
as  Hindus  possess  a  new  outlook  on  life.  They  have  turned  away 
from  degrading  customs  and  are  seeking  for  more  light  from 
Christianity.  The  little  leaven  is  in  very  fact  leavening  the  whole 
lump.  Bengal  is  the  Verdun  of  Hinduism.  Leave  it  in  our  rear 
untaken  and  the  work  of  all  India  is  in  jeopardy.  We  must  take 
Bengal  at  all  costs. 


VII 

ASSAM:  THE  FUTURE  BRIGHT 
WITH  HOPE 


When  the  present  interest  in  missionary  work  has  been  replaced 
by  a  deep  sense  of  imperial  responsibility,  and  a  passionate  en- 
thusiasm to  take  up  the  Christ-Man's  burden,  the  mere  question 
of  finance  will  sink  into  insignificance  before  the  larger  and  far 
more  serious  question  of  vital  resources.  It  is  not  so  much  in- 
creased liberality  at  home  and  increased  funds  abroad  which  are 
demanded,  as  richer  thought  and  feeling  at  home  and  a  newer 
and  more  varied  organization  abroad. — Bernard  Lucas. 


ASSAM:  THE  FUTURE  BRIGHT 
WITH  HOPE 


Assam  has  been  called  a  "  pocket  full  of  gold  " — a 
pocket  hidden  in  the  folds  and  wrinkles  of  the  mighty 
Himalayas,  rich  in  natural  resources  as  yet  scarcely 
touched  by  man.  This  beautiful  fertile  valley  has  never 
known  a  famine.  To  the  business  man  Assam  offers  an 
opportunity  of  developing  rich  resources.  To  the  traveler 
it  is  a  land  full  of  charm,  beauty,  and  danger,  and  to  the 
church  it  is  a  challenge  to  bring  to  waiting  millions  the 
knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  plains  of  the  Brahma- 
putra River  constitute  the  heart  of  its  wealth.  The  valley 
is  four  hundred  miles  long  and  about  sixty  miles  wide. 
It  is  so  fertile  that  its  grasses  grow  twenty  feet  high. 
Large  trees  produce  beautiful  flaming  scarlet  flowers,  and 
both  plains  and  hills  are  covered  with  profuse  vegetation 
that  in  places  even  an  elephant  cannot  penetrate.  The 
luxurious  grass  feeds  all  kinds  of  wild  animals.  Over 
four  hundred  elephants  were  captured  in  one  section 
alone  during  one  winter  season.  Tigers  wander  at  will 
through  the  jungle  paths.  \^iewed  from  a  distance  the 
scene  is  like  the  land  and  its  people :  fascinating  and 
romantic.  Gradually  with  the  years  cultivation  is  re- 
placing the  jungle.  The  rich  soil  tickled  by  the  crooked 
stick  called  by  courtesy  a  plow  and  scratched  by  a  bamboo 
harrow  not  merely  smiles  but  laughs  aloud  and  produces 
crops  of  rice,  tea,  cotton,  and  jute  that  are  helping  to  feed 
and  clothe  the  world.  Four  hundred  thousand  acres  are 
devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  tea,  and  two  hundred  and 

139 


140  Following  the  Pioneers 

forty-three  million  pounds  of  this  product  were  pro- 
duced in  the  province  last  year.  The  three-quarters  of  a 
million  immigrants  who  do  the  labor  in  these  enormous 
gardens  offer  the  most  fruitful  field  for  evangelism  in 
the  plains. 

Here  we  have  a  most  interesting  and  successful  work 
among  a  people  numbering  many  races.  Assam  lies  in 
the  extreme  northeastern  part  of  India,  bordering  on 
Burma  and  Tibet  and  reaching  up  toward  China.  The 
Province  has  an  area  of  61,682  square  miles,  as  large  as 
New  England,  and  its  population  of  7,100,000  is  larger 
than  that  of  the  combined  States  of  Maine,  Massachusetts, 
New  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island. 

The  Christian  work  in  this  rich,  undeveloped  province 
with  its  many  tribes  and  races  is  largely  in  the  hands  of 
the  American  Baptists.  We  occupy  the  field  from  one 
end  of  the  province  to  the  other  and  have  mission  stations 
in  both  the  valley  and  the  hills.  There  are  many  gaps 
in  our  line,  however,  that  must  be  closed  within  the  next 
few  years  if  Northern  Baptists  are  to  measure  up  to  their 
high  and  sacred  responsibility. 

Cross-currents  and  cross-purposes  in  life's  river  of 
service  opened  Assam  to  the  gospel.  A  British  officer, 
located  at  Sadiya  on  the  northeast  frontier  in  1834,  wrote 
to  our  mission  in  Burma,  requesting  that  a  missionary  be 
sent  there  to  '*  convert  the  heathen."  The  "  heathen  " 
round  about  were  in  rebellion  and  giving  so  much  trouble 
that  this  good  man  felt  that  if  they  could  be  converted,  it 
would  help  the  Government  and  incidentally  save  him 
hard  work.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Nathan  Brown  responded  to 
this  invitation  and  undertook  the  long  and  wearisome 
journey  requiring  four  months  from  Burma  to  Sadiya, 
which  became  our  first  mission  station  in  Assam.  This 
station  has  ever  since  been  the  center  for  reaching  the 


Dr.  Y.  NANDAMAH 
South  India 


Assam:  The  Future  Bright  with  Hope       141 

Daphlas,  Miris,  Abors,  Mishmis,  and  Champis,  who  oc- 
cupy the  mountain  homes  under  the  shadow  of  the  snow- 
capped Himalayas.  Nathan  Brown,  Hke  so  many  Bap- 
tist pioneer  missionaries,  had  a  genius  for  languages. 
Within  three  years  after  arriving  at  Sadiya  he  had  con- 
quered the  Assamese  language  and  translated  eleven 
schoolbooks  and  thirteen  chapters  of  the  Gospel  of  Mat- 
thew into  Assamese.  Later  he  translated  the  entire  New 
Testament  into  Assamese.  He  also  wrote  a  life  of  Christ 
in  Assamese  and  translated  Pilgrim's  Progress.  After 
twenty  years  of  laborious  toil  and  achievements,  failing 
health  made  it  imperative  that  he  return  to  America. 
At  the  age  of  sixty-five  he  went  out  again  as  a  mis- 
sionary, this  time  to  Japan.  Here  the  war-scarred  veteran 
served  for  thirteen  years  and  crowned  a  life  of  marvelous 
achievement  by  his  translation  of  the  New  Testament  into 
Japanese.  This,  the  first  translation  of  the  entire  New 
Testament  in  Japanese,  was  published  in  1879. 

Our  work  in  Assam  is  conducted  mainly  in  eight  lan- 
guages, but  altogether  we  work  in  fifteen  of  its  sixty-seven 
languages  and  dialects.  IMiraculous  providence,  so  often 
manifest  in  foreign  missionary  work,  opened  the  gospel 
to  the  Garos,  a  tribe  of  blood-thirsty  savages  hidden  away 
in  small  villages  in  the  dense  mountain  jungles  four  hun- 
dred miles  west  of  Sadiya  at  the  other  extremity  of  the 
Province.  Two  Garo  boys,  Ramkge  and  Omed,  were 
attending  school  at  Goalpara  which  the  British  Govern- 
ment had  opened  in  the  hope  of  gaining  a  degree  of  in- 
fluence over  these  wild  people.  Later,  these  boys  became 
sepoys  or  soldiers  in  the  British  Army  in  India.  One  day 
Ramkge,  who  had  been  sent  to  guard  an  empty  mission 
house  in  which  an  army  officer  was  to  live,  picked  up  a 
torn  page  of  a  Christian  tract.  The  message  of  the  tract 
sent  Ramkge  to   a   native   Christian  through  whom   he 


142  Following  the  Pioneers 

heard  the  gospel  story.  Ramkge,  hke  Andrew  of  old, 
found  Omed  and  told  him  of  Jesus  the  Saviour.  In 
February,  1863,  both  young  men  were  baptized  by  Doctor 
Bronson;  then,  having  secured  their  release  from  the 
Army,  they  returned  to  their  own  Garo  people  as  heralds 
of  the  truth,  and  today  there  are  eight  thousand  Garo 
Christians. 

The  churches  in  the  Garo  Hills  are  well   organized. 
Each  church  as  a  result  of  its  missionary  activity  has  a 
number  of  branch  churches.     A  Garo  pastor  is  in  charge 
of  each  mother  church  and  its  branches.     Some  churches 
have  as  many  as  fifteen  or  twenty  branches  in  their  terri- 
tory.   In  all,  there  are  nineteen  such  churches  and  a  great 
many   branch   churches.      Six    hundred   and   thirty-four 
members  were  received  into  the  churches  by  baptism  in 
1920  and   nine   hundred  and   thirty-two   in    1921.     The 
churches  are  organized  into  an  Association,  and  it  was 
my  privilege  to  attend  one  of  these  Associational  meet- 
ings.   There  were  more  than  one  thousand  people  present, 
and  I  was  greatly  impressed  with  the  careful,  conscien- 
tious way  in  which  the  Association  transacted  its  busi- 
ness, much  of  which  was  of  vital  interest  to  the  churches 
and  the  Garo  Christians.     One  matter  considered  at  the 
Association  was  somewhat  unusual  in  character,  and  it  is 
doubtful  if  any  other  Baptist  Association  was  ever  called 
upon  to  consider  a  matter  of  such  a  nature.    It  was  found 
necessary  to  take  action  in  regard  to  the  depredations 
of  man-killing  tigers  in  the  Garo  Hills.     In  one  single 
section  of  the  hills  more  than  one  hundred  and   forty 
people  were  killed  by  man-eating  tigers  during  the  two 
preceding  years.    The  Association  petitioned  the  Govern- 
ment to  take  more  active  measures  to  get  rid  of  these 
tigers.    The  Government  responded  by  contributing  fifty 
more  guns  in  this  section,  and  the  situation  has  been  re- 


Assam:  The  Future  Bright  with  Hope       143 

lieved.  The  tigers  are  especially  annoying  during  the 
rains  when  the  heavy  floods  drive  all  wild  beasts  from 
the  plains  up  into  the  hill  districts. 

Next  to  the  religious  welfare  of  the  people,  the  churches 
stand  for  the  social  and  moral  betterment  of  the  com- 
muijity.  One  church  recently  caught  a  gang  of  counter- 
feiters and  turned  them  over  to  the  Government.  Kala- 
azar,  a  dread  disease,  has  been  raging  in  the  Garo  Hills 
the  last  two  years,  and  the  Government  has  a  record  of 
over  seven  hundred  cases.  The  disease  is  very  deadly, 
and  the  treatment,  tartar  emetic,  given  intravenously,  lasts 
three  months,  so  that  hundreds  of  cases  are  being  con- 
cealed through  fear.  The  disease  is  spreading  fast  in 
spite  of  the  desperate  efforts  of  the  Government  to  stay 
it.  In  one  district  a  few  years  ago,  it  carried  off  ten  per 
cent,  of  the  population.  The  Baptist  churches  in  the  hills 
and  the  village  preachers  and  evangelists  are  cooperating 
with  the  Government  under  the  direction  of  the  mis- 
sionary, Rev.  F.  W.  Harding,  and  are  encouraging  the 
people  to  report  all  cases  of  the  disease  and  bring  the 
patients  to  Tura  where  a  big  temporary  hospital  has  been 
built. 

The  Garo  churches  are  assuming  more  and  more  evan- 
gelistic responsibility  for  the  Christianizing  of  their  own 
tribe.  They  are  not  only  supporting  their  own  village 
schools,  but  two  of  the  churches  have  undertaken  to  help 
support  schools  in  weaker  villages.  The  churches  in  1920 
contributed  8,160  rupees.  There  are  seventy-seven  Sun- 
day schools  with  120  teachers  and  3,41*7  pupils.  The 
seventy-seven  village  schools  are  attended  by  2,589  boys 
and  girls.  More  than  one-third  of  the  baptisms  on  this 
field  came  through  the  schools.  The  missionary  encour- 
ages the  school  children  to  plant  fruit  and  vegetable 
gardens,  and  this  not  only  has  been  of  educational  value. 


144  Following  the  Pioneers 

but  one  school  received  enough  from  the  sale  of  products 
to  buy  slates  and  books  for  the  whole  school  and,  after 
a  big  ''  spread,"  had  a  balance  left  in  the  school  treasury. 
Through  these  village  schools  our  Mission  in  the  Garo 
Hills  is  doing  a  work  which  the  Government  is  unable 
to  do.  The  missionaries  are  pioneers  in  education.  The 
Government  recognizes  this  and  appreciates  what  we 
have  done  for  the  Garos.  The  Mission  opens  schools  in 
sections  where  even  the  pay  of  the  Government  could 
not  possibly  have  any  attraction  for  a  teacher.  The  Mis- 
sion makes  a  higher  appeal  than  money;  it  says  to  the 
Garo  Christians :  "  Go  yonder  up  into  that  lonely  hill  vil- 
lage where  the  people  are  absolutely  uncivilized,  where  the 
dirt  and  smells  and  customs  are  disgusting,  where  you 
will  find  little  or  no  real  fellowship;  go  to  the  village, 
not  for  pay,  but  for  Christ's  sake,  and  give  the  best  you 
have,  even  your  life  if  need  be."  It  is  because  the  Mission 
can  make  such  an  appeal  to  Christian  people  that  it  is 
able  to  break  a  path  from  the  grossest  indifference  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  life  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  After  a 
school  has  been  well  started  and  the  idea  of  education  has 
in  a  sense  become  naturalized,  which  is  impossible  with- 
out a  Christian  nucleus,  the  school  is  ready  to  be  turned 
over  to  the  Government  for  support.  Two  years  ago 
twenty  such  schools  were  handed  over  to  the  Government. 
The  missionaries  and  Garo  preachers  are  allowed  to  give 
religious  instruction  in  the  schools.  There  is  a  hostel  at 
the  high  school  in  which  fifty-three  boys  lived  la§t  year. 
We  expect  to  have  a  second  hostel  in  1922,  for  the  Deputy 
Commissioner  has  ruled  that  all  boys  must  live  in  the 
hostel  except  those  who  are  living  with  guardians  ap- 
proved by  himself.  Experience  has  demonstrated  that 
boys  living  in  the  Mission  hostel  do  better  work  in  school 
than  boys  living  outside.    One  morning  the  Deputy  Com- 


Assam:  The  Future  Bright  with  Hope       145 

missioner  paid  an  early  visit  to  the  hostel.  He  surprised 
the  boys  by  walking  up  through  the  jungle  so  that  no  one 
saw  him  approach.  After  an  inspection  of  the  hostel 
he  wrote:  "  I  am  very  pleased  to  see  that  the  hostel  is 
extremely  neat  and  clean.  Everything  about  it  is  most 
creditable."  We  also  have  at  Tura  a  Bible  school  for  the 
training  of  teachers  and  church  workers.  There  is  a  small 
hospital  with  an  American  doctor  and  an  American- 
trained  nurse.  The  Woman's  Society  has  a  middle  En- 
glish girls'  school  of  two  hundred  members,  which  is  a 
most  important  factor  in  the  development  of  the  home 
and  church  life  among  the  Garos. 

In  addition  to  the  missionaries  and  the  pastors,  there 
are  five  evangelists  working  in  this  field  all  the  time.  In 
1921,  these  five  evangelists  visited  965  villages  and 
preached  to  thirty-one  thousand  people.  The  teachers 
and  the  Inspector  of  Schools,  Ramsing,  are  all  men  of 
the  evangelistic  spirit.  In  one  of  Mr.  Ramsing's  letters, 
written  while  traveling  with  a  Garo  Association  evan- 
gelist, he  says : 

We  divided  our  time  so  as  to  preach  in  the  churches,  one  after 
another.  I  stayed  in  one  village  for  eight  days.  During  that 
time  a  rapacious  tiger  killed  two  men.  I  thank  our  Almighty  God 
that  I  have  not  met  any  wild  beasts  on  our  journey. 

From  another  village  he  writes : 

I  preached  in  the  Rongjeng  church  twice,  once  at  noon  and 
again  in  the  evening.  At  the  noon  meeting  there  were  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  people  present  and  in  the  evening  there  were  more 
than  one  hundred  people  gathered  in  the  same  church.  They 
came  from  three  churches  to  hear  me.  Before  preaching  I  have 
prayed  to  God  that  I  might  preach  to  the  people  well.  The 
people  listened  attentively. 

Work  in  the  plains  is  carried  on  for  the  Assamese  and 
thousands  of  Indians  who  have  come  to  Assam   from 


146  Following  the  Pioneers 

lower  India  to  work  in  the  tea-gardens.  At  Dhubri, 
Gauhati,  Nowgong,  Golaghat,  Sibsagor,  North  Lakhim- 
pur,  and  Jorhat,  the  missionaries  are  carrying  on  a  per- 
sistent, aggressive  evangelism,  and  with  their  Assamese 
and  Indian  preachers  and  Bible-women,  are  winning  hun- 
dreds to  Christianity  and  organizing  them  into  churches 
and  Associations.  All  the  churches  come  together  once  a 
year  in  the  All-Assam  Baptist  Convention.  The  evan- 
gelistic work  of  the  Mission  is  greatly  invigorated  by  the 
yearly  meeting  of  the  Golaghat  Bible  Assembly.  The 
Assembly  is  similar  to  our  Northfield  Christian  Confer- 
ence and  is  attended  by  more  than  two  hundred  delegates. 
The  Bible  holds  a  central  place  in  the  Assembly,  and 
daily  for  a  week  the  delegates  spend  hours  in  the  inten- 
sive devotional  study  of  God's  Word  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Rev.  O.  L.  Swanson,  the  guiding  genius  and  in- 
spiration of  the  Assembly.  He  is  ably  assisted  by  other 
missionaries,  and  the  spiritual  time  at  this  annual  assem- 
bly means  much  to  the  work  of  our  churches  and  to 
Assam.  This  annual  gathering  at  Golaghat  is  being 
greatly  used  of  God  in  deepening  and  enriching  the  lives 
of  the  Christian  people  of  the  province. 

Dr.  W.  E.  Witter,  in  describing  the  meeting  of  the 
Bible  Conference  at  Golaghat  in  1921,  says* 

The  instruction  was  all  given  in  the  Assamese  language  this 
year  to  twenty  Assamese,  eighty-one  Mundas,  eleven  Garos,  ten 
Kachins,  nine  Mikirs,  six  Urias,  four  Urangs,  three  Bhumjis, 
two  each  from  the  Santals,  Nepalis,  Khariyas,  and  Bengalis,  and 
one  Telugu,  and  one  Angami  Naga.  These  with  the  twenty- 
two  women  in  attendance  made  a  grand  total  of  176,  which  does 
not  include  the  visitors,  missionaries,  and  conference  teachers  who 
also  represented  several  nationalities.  It  was  wonderful  to  note 
the  promptness  in  attendance  from  the  eldest  to  the  youngest  of 
this  great,  class  of  men  and  boys,  and  it  was  a  joy  to  watch  their 
eager  faces  as  new  visions  were  revealed  to  them.     Mr.  Swanson, 


Assam:  The  Future  Bright  with  Hope       147 

no  matter  how  weary  or  fatigued,  was  always  on  the  qui  vive. 
It  was  a  rare  treat  to  see  him  manipulate  his  class,  calling  each 
by  name  and  questioning  with  skill  each  man  in  his  turn  in 
that  spirit  of  a  true  brother  and  father  to  them  all.  Throughout 
the  conference  these  men,  from  fourteen  different  races  and 
tribes,  lived  together  in  the  hostels  in  most  cordial  fellowship, 
never  giving  a  thought  to  any  difference  in  language,  rank,  or 
educational  attainments.  They  ate  and  slept  in  fellowship  to- 
gether as  brothers  of  one  family.  Humility  and  the  true  love  of 
the  Master  seemed  to  rule  all  hearts.  Two  sessions  were  given 
to  the  men  to  tell  what  they  had  received  from  the  conference, 
one  session  being  insufficient  for  the  delegates  to  express  them- 
selves as  fully  as  they  desired  as  to  what  these  days  had  meant 
in  drawing  them  nearer  to  God  and  deepening  their  love  for  his 
Word  and  his  kingdom  and  their  high  calling  in  Christ  Jesus  as 
his  fellow  workers  and  witnesses.  Some  of  the  men  said  they 
could  hardly  wait  to  get  back  to  their  villages  to  tell  their  friends 
and  the  heathen  about  them,  of  the  new  and  great  joy  that  was 
flooding  their  souls.  Naturally  the  teachers  could  but  give  devout 
thanks  to  God  that  so  much  of  the  instruction  given  has  already 
taken  deep  root  in  so  many  hearts  prophetic  of  future  harvests 
for  the  kingdom. 

The  Woman's  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  So- 
ciety is  doing  especially  effective  work  among  the  women 
and  children  of  Assam.  At  Gauhati,  Nowgong,  and  Gola- 
ghat  there  are  three  well-equipped  girls'  schools  which  are 
influencing  in  an  ever-increasing  way  the  girlhood  and 
the  future  mothers  of  Assam.  At  Gauhati  is  the  Satri 
Bari  boarding-  and  day-school  with  twenty-four  boys, 
one  hundred  and  six  girls,  and  a  teaching  staff  numbering 
three  men  and  six  women,  and  a  day-school  in  the  town 
with  an  enrolment  of  eighteen  boys  and  thirty-six  girls. 
The  Gale  Memorial  School  at  Golaghat,  numbering 
seventy-four  pupils,  has  well  been  termed  a  "  garden  of 
feminine  culture."  Girls,  little  and  big,  old  and  young, 
and  mothers  with  children  are  gathered  here  for  a  time 
and  then  sent  out  to  share  with  friends  old  and  new  the 


148  Following  the  Pioneers 

new  beauty  that  has  come  to  them.  They  become  teachers 
and  Christian  workers.  Some  marry  and  immediately 
estabUsh  their  homes  on  the  new  plan.  The  compound  is  a 
model  Indian  village  with  cottages,  cook-houses,  granary, 
weaving-shed,  school,  church,  and  bungalow.  Those  girls 
are  trained  to  take  a  helpful  part  in  all  good  work,  and 
many  of  the  older  ones  become  Bible  teachers.  The 
Woman's  Society  is  now  building  at  Gauhati  the  first  and 
only  hospital  for  women  and  children  in  the  province,  and 
is  establishing  at  Jorhat  a  Woman's  Bible  Training  School. 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  W.  E.  Witter  began  some  years  ago  to 
open  their  home  in  Gauhati  to  the  young  men  of  Cotton 
College,  one  of  the  two  Government  colleges  of  the  prov- 
ince. In  three  years  no  less  than  736  young  men  have 
come  into  this  home  to  talk  with  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Witter 
in  regard  to  their  life  problems.  We  have  here  one  of 
the  most  wonderful  examples  of  personal  work  in  the 
history  of  the  modern  church.  Doctor  Witter's  friend, 
Judge  E.  E.  Lewis,  of  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  a  short  time 
before  his  death  contributed  a  sum  of  money  for  the 
erection  of  a  hostel  for  college  men  in  connection  with 
this  work.  This  memorial  building  has  been  erected  on 
the  mission  compound  at  Gauhati,  facing  the  broad  Brah- 
maputra, with  the  towering  Himalayas  in  the  distance. 
The  building  is  now  full  of  young  men  from  the  college 
who  are  living  in  most  healthful  surroundings  under  the 
constant  influence  of  the  mission.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Wit- 
ter have  retired  from  the  work,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cecil 
G.  Fielder,  friends  and  companions  of  these  young  men, 
carry  on  the  work  in  the  names  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
Mr.  Fielder  writes : 

Of  all  the  work  we  have  done  this  year,  that  which  has  meant 
the  most  to  me  and  upon  which  I  have  spent  by  far  the  most 
time,  has  been  the  intensive  Bible  study  and  talks  about  the  life 


NATIVE  SAWMILL,  INDIA 


DOCTOR  AND  MRS.  WITTER  AND  STUDENTS 
Gauhati,  Assam 


Assam:  The  Future  Bright  with  Hope       149 

and  teaching  of  Jesus  with  individuals  and  small  groups.  In  these 
we  have  gone  right  to  the  bottom  of  the  Christian  faith,  the 
nature  of  God,  his  relationship  to  Jesus  and  to  us,  the  meaning 
of  Jesus'  life,  teachings,  and  death  to  the  character  and  happiness 
of  men  and  their  progress  toward  the  ideal  that  God  has  set  for 
them.  Our  conversations  have  been  honest  and  intense,  and  never 
have  we  avoided  an  issue.  Men  have  come  to  know  Jesus  much 
better,  and  to  believe  in  his  life  and  teachings  as  the  hope  of 
mankind.  But  no  one  has  yet  come  to  the  place  where  he  is 
willing  to  separate  himself  from  family  or  community  for  his 
sake.  I  do  not  cease  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  this  end.  The 
seed  is  planted  and  nourished,  and  is  bearing  fruit  of  a  kind. 
But  it  is  not  the  full  fruit  that  we  yearn  for.  The  warm,  loving 
spirit  of  God  and  time  both  are  needed  to  bring  this  to  pass, 
coupled  with  the  steady  continuance  of  the  instruction  and  en- 
couragement we  have  given  in  the  past.  When  I  consider  my 
own  slowness  and  dulness  in  rising  to  God's  will  for  me,  with  my 
life-long  Christian  upbringing  and  unusual  opportunities,  I  con- 
clude that  I  cannot  reasonably  do  anything  else  than  be  willing 
to  wait  for  years  for  these  men  to  come  to  their  full  develop- 
ment, if  necessary.  But  I  have  great  faith  in  their  honesty  and 
courage  and  ability  eventually  to  win  for  themselves  the  privilege 
of  working  together  with  God  for  the  salvation  of  the  world. 
Their  courtesy,  sympathy,  and  comradeliness  are  a  constant  chal- 
lenge, inspiration,  and  help  to  me. 

The  Sunday  I  spent  in  Gauhati,  it  was  my  privilege  to 
preach  to  a  splendid  congregation  of  these  college  boys 
gathered  in  the  auditorium  of  Lewis  ^Memorial.  Eighty- 
one  of  these  young  men  are  regular  attendants  at  the 
Bible  classes  where  the  claims  of  Jesus  and  the  Christian 
religion  are  placed  before  them  in  a  personal  way.  Above 
all  there  are  the  long  walks  with  Mr.  Fielder  and  the  quiet 
hours  face  to  face  with  each  other  in  the  Christlike  at- 
mosphere of  the  latter's  home.  I  will  never  forget  the 
walk  that  I  had  with  Mr.  Fielder  and  two  of  these  young 
university  men,  one  a  Hindu  and  one  a  Brahmin.  After 
that  afternoon  of  mountain  climbing  with  these  boys  I  did 


150  Following  the  Pioneers 

not  wonder  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fielder  and  Doctor  and 
Mrs.  Witter  have  come  to  love  them.  These  young  men 
are  from  the  best  homes  in  the  province  and  are  the  future 
leaders  of  Assam. 

The  educational  needs  of  this  Mission  are  becoming 
more  and  more  apparent  as  it  faces  the  new  day  and 
the  natural  aspiration  of  the  Christians  of  Assam  for 
larger  participation  in  the  Christian  work  of  the  province. 
There  is  an  increasing  demand  for  an  educated  Christian 
leadership.  The  educational  plans  of  the  Mission  call 
for  one  central  high  school  at  Jorhat  with  industrial, 
normal,  Bible,  business,  and  collegiate  preparatory  courses. 
In  addition  to  this,  it  is  planned  to  have  a  high  school  at 
Kohima  for  the  Naga  Hills  and  Manipur.  As  feeders 
for  these  schools,  it  is  expected  that  there  will  be  a 
good  system  of  village  schools  among  the  Christian  vil- 
lages. These  schools  are  supposed  to  head  up  in  a 
middle  English  school  in  each  station.  The  Bible  holds 
an  important  place  in  all  these  schools,  with  a  special 
Bible  Department  at  Jorhat  and  the  Bible  School  at 
Tura  in  the  Garo  Hills.  There  is  no  provision  for  any 
institution  in  this  Mission  of  higher  grade  than  high 
school.  It  has  been  thought  wise  not  to  try  to  compete 
with  the  Government  in  higher  education,  but  to  make 
use  of  Cotton  College  at  Gauhati  or  institutions  of  higher 
learning  in  other  parts  of  India.  The  students  of  Cotton 
College  will  be  under  Christian  influence  through  the 
Lewis  Memorial  Hostel.  This  Mission  should  have  funds 
available  to  make  it  possible  for  Baptist  students  to  con- 
tinue their  college  and  medical  school  work.  Our  mis- 
sionaries are  confident  that  a  failure  to  appreciate  the 
importance  of  the  educational  work  in  this  Province  has 
been  a  source  of  weakness  in  the  past,  and  urge  that 
forward  steps  be  taken  at  once. 


Assam:  The  Future  Bright  with  Hope       151 

At  the  head  of  our  educational  system  in  Assam  stand 
the  Jorhat  Christian  Schools.  It  is  from  these  schools 
that  our  Assam  Mission  looks  for  its  trained  pastors, 
evangelists,  and  teachers.  Three  branches  of  school  work 
are  maintained,  Biblical,  secular,  and  industrial.  The 
two  hundred  and  fifty  pupils  now  enrolled  in  the  Jorhat 
Christian  Schools  are  already  giving  back  to  their  own 
people  the  benefits  derived  from  their  still  limited  educa- 
tion. Young  men  from  fifteen  races  have  sought  ad- 
mission to  these  schools.  Some  of  the  students,  carrying 
their  provisions  and  luggage,  walk  two  hundred  miles,  so 
anxious  are  they  for  an  education.  Thus  the  Jorhat 
Christian  Schools  are  sending  their  influence  into  the  most 
remote  corners  of  the  Province.  The  curriculum  makes 
use  of  all  the  available  natural  resources,  and  these  are 
presented  as  an  interpretation  of  Christianity.  For  an 
hour  each  day  the  pupils  study  the  Bible;  but  according 
to  Christian  standards  of  religion  they  must  be  doers 
and  not  hearers  only,  so  after  an  hour  a  day  of  Bible 
study  they  have  from  two  to  four  hours  of  work  when 
they  are  taught  to  put  Christianity  into  practise.  Seventy 
per  cent,  of  the  boys  enrolled  are  Christians.  Near  the 
Jorhat  Schools,  we  have  purchased  one  of  the  finest  sites 
in  Assam  for  the  location  of  a  hospital.  ]\Ioney  for  the 
erection  of  the  hospital  building  has  been  promised  by  a 
friend  in  America,  and  when  the  hospital  is  completed 
our  work  in  this  center  of  Assam  will  be  greatly  strength- 
ened and  should  have  increasing  influence  through  the 
length  of  the  Brahmaputra  valley. 

In  1876,  the  veteran  Rev.  E.  W.  Clark,  who  at  Sibsagor, 
had  felt  the  pull  of  the  unreached  mountain  tribes,  de- 
termined to  give  himself  to  the  Nagas.  At  this  time  the 
Nagas  were  not  in  the  British  dominion,  and  to  live 
beyond  the  British  flag  required  a  permit  from  the  Viceroy 


152  Following  the  Pioneers 

in  India.  On  making  application,  Mr.  Clark  was  in- 
formed that  should  he  enter  the  Naga  wilds,  he  must  do 
so  at  his  own  risk.  This  was  enough  for  a  missionary 
of  the  Cross,  and  he  was  soon  located  in  a  far  mountain 
village  surrounded  by  wild  head-hunters.  Here  he  began 
the  work  of  reducing  the  language  to  writing — another 
ot  that  noble  list  of  Baptist  missionaries  who  gave  not 
only  God's  Word  but  an  entire  language  to  the  people 
among  whom  they  labored.  When  the  British  took  over 
the  territory  in  1889,  Mr.  Clark  had  so  won  the  con- 
fidence of  the  people  that  he  was  of  inestimable  service 
to  the  Government  and  a  great  help  to  the  Nagas  in  their 
new  relationship.  When  I  visited  this  field  in  1918,  fifteen 
mountain  villages  were  pointed  out  to  me  where  twenty- 
five  years  ago  the  name  of  Jesus  had  never  been  heard, 
but  in  each  one  of  them  now  there  is  a  strong  self-sup- 
porting Baptist  church,  and  the  life  of  each  village  has 
been  completely  transformed  by  the  permeating  influence 
of  Christianity.  At  Impur,  the  central  station  of  the  tribe, 
we  have  a  strong  church,  a  boys'  school,  a  girls'  school, 
and  a  hospital.  We  have  work  in  forty-nine  out  of  the 
fifty-five  Ao  Naga  villages.  There  are  forty-six  organ- 
ized churches  and  thirty-eight  village  schools.  There  are 
now  over  four  thousand  baptized  Christians.  The 
churches  are  organized  into  Associations,  and  their  mem- 
bers contribute  more  than  a  thousand  dollars  annually. 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  within  a  few  years 
this  work  will  be  entirely  self-supporting. 

The  latest  mission  station  to  be  opened  in  Assam  is 
Kangpokpi  in  the  native  State  of  Manipur,  located  in 
the  northeast  part  of  the  Province  and  about  as  large 
as  the  State  of  Massachusetts.  Manipur  State  is  ruled 
over  by  a  native  prince  or  Maharajah  who  is  interested 
in  our  industrial  and  medical  work.     The  State  consti- 


Assam:  The  Future  Bright  with  Hope       153 

tutes  a  fertile  plain  surrounded  by  mountains.  The  peo- 
ple in  the  plains  are  Manipuris  or  Hindus,  while  those 
of  the  hills  are  Tangkul  Nagas  and  Kukis.  The  hill- 
people  were  wild  head-hunters,  but  have  recently  accepted 
Christianity  in  large  numbers.  In  1894,  Rev.  William 
Pettigrew  opened  work  here  in  a  greatly  restricted  area. 
Two  years  later,  he  was  given  permission  by  the  Maha- 
rajah to  settle  at  Ukhrul,  a  mountain  village,  and  to  work 
among  the  head-hunters.  For  many  years  Mr.  and  ^Irs. 
Pettigrew,  in  one  of  the  most  isolated  mission  stations 
in  all  India,  gave  themselves  most  heroically  to  this  dif- 
ficult and  dangerous  work.  He  was  awarded  the  Kaisar- 
i-Hind  medal  in  1918  for  distinguished  service  during 
the  war.  In  recognition  of  this  and  also  of  the  service 
of  Dr.  G.  G.  Crozier,  a  Baptist  medical  missionary  who 
served  for  two  years  as  medical  officer  for  a  military  ex- 
pedition into  iNIanipur,  the  Government  granted  us  at 
Kangpokpi,  at  a  nominal  rental,  one  hundred  acres  of 
land  on  the  main  automobile  road  leading  to  Imphal,  the 
capital  of  the  State.  Doctor  Crozier  has  done  a  remark- 
able piece  of  work  in  clearing  the  mountainside,  building 
roads,  two  bungalows,  two  school  buildings,  and  a  num- 
ber of  temporary  buildings.  On  this  mountainside  we 
have  a  beautiful  mission  station,  ministering  in  many 
ways  to  the  needs  of  the  people.  In  the  leper  asylum 
there  are  twenty-eight  patients  under  treatment.  Doctor 
•Crozier  uses  the  chaulmoogra  oil  treatment,  and  four 
lepers  have  been  discharged  as  cured.  Doctor  Muir,  one 
of  the  greatest  authorities  on  leprosy  in  India,  visited 
Kangpokpi  a  few  weeks  before  we  were  there  in  1921 
and  was  much  pleased  at  the  work  being  done  in  our  leper 
asylum.    Doctor  Crozier  writes  : 

My  visit  to  Doctor  Muir's  laboratory  in  Calcutta  and  to  his 
leper  clinic,  and  visit  with  him  to  a  large  leper  asylum  near  Cal- 


154  Following  the  Pioneers 

cutta,  strengthened  me  in  the  hope  of  ridding  Manipur  State  of 
leprosy  within  a  comparatively   few  years. 

The  hospital  is  not  yet  built,  but  Doctor  Crozier  and  his 
native  assistant  treated  nearly  5,000  patients  last  year  in 
a  temporary  dispensary.  The  station  also  maintains  a 
boys'  school  and  a  girls'  school  and  a  large  industrial 
work.  The  nineteen  village  schools  have  an  enrolment  of 
seven  hundred  boys  and  girls.  Wonderful  gardens  are 
made  possible  by  the  continual  supply  of  water  which 
flows  to  all  parts  of  the  compound  from  never-failing 
springs  on  the  mountainside.  There  is  a  flourishing 
church  of  one  hundred  and  forty  members  with  six  other 
organized  churches,  together  with  seventeen  branch 
churches  in  the  State.  In  1915,  after  twenty  years  of 
work  in  the  field,  there  were  sixty-three  church-members. 
When  I  was  in  Assam  in  1918,  there  were  still  less  than 
three  hundred.  Today  there  are  1,435  church-members, 
569  having  been  baptized  in  1921.  Five  hundred  and 
fifty-five  representatives  from  twenty-five  different  vil- 
lages of  the  State  \yere  in  attendance  at  the  Association 
meetings.  One  of  the  most  inspiring  incidents  of  our  trip 
to  India  in  1921-1922  was  a  meeting  of  this  Association 
which  we  attended  at  Kangpokpi.  Following  is  an  ad- 
dress on  self-support  delivered  at  the  convention  by  one 
of  the  evangelists  who  is  also  treasurer  of  the  Manipur 
Home  Mission  Society.  This  address  was  delivered  in 
Kuki  and  Naga  and  then  translated  for  me  by  the  speaker.' 
I  give  the  translation  exactly  as  he  wrote  it: 

Reports  on  Self-support 

Dear  brothren  in  Christ :  In  this  meeting  I,  am  obliged  to  speak 
before  you  all  how  we  have  been  attempting  to  support  the  Evan- 
gelists and  other  workers  for  Christ,  since  the  church  established. 

Beginning  in  the  year  1908,  we  who  earn  money  have  agreed  to 
give  l4  of  our  income  and  those  who  labour  in  their  own  fields  give 


Assam:  The  Future  Bright  with  Hope       155 

in  kinds ;  with  which  we  could  sent  out  four  Evangelists  to  the 
neighboring  villages  for  few  years. 

And  lately  we  resolved  to  build  a  permanent  church,  for  we 
considered  that  the  building  use  for  school  is  not  convenient  for 
the  meeting.  But  unfortunately  when  the  roofing  work  is  nearly 
finished,  it  were  blown  down  which  the  damage  costed  nearly 
Rs.  2,000. 

In  the  Tangkhul  conference  last  year,  we  were  so  blessed  by 
our  gracious  Lord  that  some  8  or  9  villages  came  and  asked 
schools  from  Rev.  W.  Pettigrew,  saying  that  they  were  very 
anxious  to  hear  the  Gospel.  Not  only  this,  but  also  many  people 
all  around  seemed  to  move  their  minds  towards  the  true  Creator. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Missionary  said  that  they  have  no  more 
money  left  in  their  hand  for  other  schools. 

This  made  Christians  think  more  deeply  and  all  began  to  dis- 
cuss where  to  get  the  required  money  for  capable  Christians  to 
preach  the  Gospel.  After  praying  considerably  God  answered  so 
mercifully  that  every  Christian  who  attended  the  meeting  will- 
ingly offered  money  from  his  own  pocket.  Besides  monthly  con- 
tribution is  doing  well.  Thus  the  native  fund  amounted  nearly 
Rs.  1,600. 

With  this  money  we  are  supporting  3  evangelists  and  6  teachers. 
We  know  very  well  that  this  fund  only  will  not  last  very  long. 
When  it  is  finished,  we  do  not  know  what  to  do. 

After  doing  we  all  possibly  could,  there  is  no  hope  to  get 
money  from  the  native  Christians  till  1923  and  1924  for  the 
majority  of  the  converts  have  not  been  understand  the  value  of 
contributing  yet.  So,  in  case  of  the  work  stops  due  to  short  of 
money,  it  would  sufifer  great  loss. 

Dear  Brethren,  I  therefore  earnestly  appeal  to  you  all  to  pray 
for  blessings  from  above  that  the  work  of  self-support  of  this 
year  may  be  successfully  done  to  the  glory  of  our  Lord  and 
Master.  And  also  pray  for  another  attempt  to  raise  money,  so 
that  self-support  may  be  continued  to  save  the  life  of  many  poor 
sinners  like  us.  I  enclosed  my  report  with  a  notice  which  I 
think  important  for  all  zealous  Christians. 

It  is  a  foolish  policy  for  one  to  have  an  opinion  at  the  present 
day  that  an  Evangelist  should  go  on  without  family  comfort  and 
his  own  comforts.  L^et  us  not  consider  the  days  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  or  the  time  before  Christ.  But  in  the  time  of  great 
apostles,  we  read  in  one  chapter  of  Acts  that  money  is  distributed 


156  Following  the  Pioneers 

according  to  the  full  needs  of  each  apostle  of  the  Gospel.  Like- 
wise for  a  devoted  Evangelist  today  must  be  considered  rather 
seriously  knowing  all  the  difficulties.  Then  let  us  not  hesitate 
but  contribute  liberally  to  the  great  need  of  evangelising  of  our 
tribes. 

Now  my  dear  brothren,  please  pardon  me  if  there  is  any  mis- 
take in  saying  so.  May  the  Holy  Spirit  approve  of  our  humble 
service  through  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  and  our  Saviour  until 
Manipur  is  won  for  him. 

Reichumhao,  Evangelist  and  Treasurer. 

The  following  is  the  statement  from  the  Manipur 
Home  Mission  Society  written  by  the  treasurer: 

Two  years  ago  at  the  Manipur  Association  held  at  Kangpokpi, 
we  organized  the  "  Manipur  Home  Mission  Society,"  for  we  know 
that  in  some  places  of  Manipur  State  the  Foreign  Missionary  is 
not  allowed  to  preach  the  gospel.  So  we  the  native  Christian 
churches  and  branch  churches  have  pledged  above  Rs.  300,  and 
with  this  money  we  are  supporting  one  teacher  at  Thorcham  vil- 
lage southwest  of  Manipur  valley,  where  the  missionary  is  not 
allowed  to  enter. 

This  important  work  has  been  going  on  successfully,  and  we 
hope  to  see  greater  success  if  we  Christians  faithfully  push  it 
lorward.  Reichumhao,  Treasurer. 

Christianity  is  firmly  established  and  deeply  rooted  in 
Assam,  Burma,  Bengal-Orissa,  and  India.  Throughout 
the  entire  Empire  the  churches  of  all  evangelical  de- 
nominations are  growing  in  independence  and  self-sup- 
port and  are  becoming  a  steadily  increasing  influence  in 
the  life  of  the  people.  From  a  former  state  of  indif- 
ference and  lethargy  there  is  everywhere  in  the  Indian 
Empire  an  awakening  and  eagerness  of  life,  and  India 
makes  a  tremendous  appeal  to  the  Christian  who  is  eager 
to  bring  light  and  truth  and  the  redemptive  message  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  the  hearts  of  men  and  the  life  of  the  world. 

In  Benares  I  was  a  guest  of  one  of  India's  outstanding 


KHANTO  BELA  RAI 
Midnapore,  Bengal-Orissa 


Assam:  The  Future  Bright  with  Hope       157 

Christian  laymen,  Rai  Bahadur  A.  C.  Alukerjee,  who  has 
been  repeatedly  chosen  by  his  non-Christian  fellow  citizens 
as  Secretary  of  the  municipality  of  Benares,  the  sacred 
city  of  the  Hindus.  Mr.  Alukerjee  is  universally  trusted 
and  honored  by  Christians  of  all  denominations  and  by 
all  races  of  the  people  of  India.  In  our  conversation  I 
asked  him  one  day  what  he  considered  the  present  out- 
standing need  of  India.  He  replied,  ''  Education,  indus- 
trial education,  technical  education,  agricultural  education, 
above  all,  Christian  education."  That  the  Government 
recognizes  this  need  is  shown  from  the  following  para- 
graph in  a  Government  report  of  1920: 

From  all  that  has  been  said  in  the  preceding  chapters  of  this 
report  it  will  be  realized  that  the  uplift  of  the  Indian  people, 
economic,  physical,  and  moral,  really  resolves  itself  into  a  ques- 
tion of  education.  Without  education  the  laborer,  rural  or  urban, 
will  continue  as  at  present,  poor  and  helpless,  with  little  initiative 
to  self-help.  Without  education  hygienic  progress  among  the 
masses  is  impossible,  and  social  reform  is  a  vain  delusion.  India's 
educational  problems,  framed  as  they  are  upon  a  Gargantuan 
scale,  must  find  their  solution  proportionately  large.  For  with- 
out education  India  will  be  confronted  in  no  long  time  with  that 
supreme  peril  of  modern  states,  an  uninformed  democracy,  omnipo- 
tent but  irresponsible. 

The  missionary  forces  of  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ 
have  made  and  are  prepared  to  make  a  large  contribu- 
tion to  the  educational  progress  of  the  empire.  To  help 
meet  this  need  the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  So- 
ciety has  in  its  four  missions  in  India  2,699  schools 
ranging  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  college  and  uni- 
versity. We  have  a  total  of  90,315  boys  and  girls  under 
instruction  in  these  schools.  These  schools  must  be 
strengthened,  reenforced,  and  made  more  effective  as 
centers  of  Christian  instruction  and  character-building. 
Our  educational  work  in  Burma  and  India  must  be  thor- 


158  Following  the  Pioneers 

ough,  that  is,  accurate  and  true.  If  it  is  not,  it  is  not 
real  education,  and  it  is  not  Christian  education.  Our 
education  must  be  adapted,  that  is,  it  must  fit  boys  and 
girls  for  the  work  they  have  to  do,  for  the  life  they  have 
to  live,  and  for  the  environment  they  have  to  live  in.  Our 
education  must  be  Christian.  Let  it  be  scientific  and  peda- 
gogically  sound,  but  the  aim  and  spirit,  the  tone  and  re- 
sult, must  be  unqualifiedly  Christian. 

The  present  national  awakening  is  one  of  the  most  hope- 
ful and  promising  elements  in  the  present  situation.  The 
appeal  of  the  new  India  is  an  appeal  to  serve  and  to  help 
steady  and  guide  a  wonderful  people  at  a  time  of  un- 
paralleled national  crisis  in  the  history  of  a  mighty  em- 
pire. In  letters  from  two  veteran  missionaries  in  Burma 
the  challenge  of  the  new  India  is  made  clear : 

Has  it  occurred  to  you  [says  the  first  writer]  what  a  big  call 
for  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  mission  work  in  India  is 
afforded  by  the  scheme  of  constitutional  reform  in  India?'  The 
attempt  being  made  by  the  British  here  is  unique.  It  is  to  lead 
the  people  of  India  gradually  by  very  definite  steps  into  real 
democratic  government.  Now  democracy  can  rest  securely  on 
nothing  but  character,  and  Christianity  can  produce  the  character 
that  India  sorely  needs  to  make  democracy  a  success. 

And  the  second  writes. 

At  the  time  when  national  self-consciousness  is  being  so  strongly 
accentuated  together  with  the  sobering  result  of  the  acceptance 
of  new  and  overwhelming  responsibilities,  it  is  becoming  increas- 
ingly evident  that  Christianity  alone  affords  the  answer  to  the 
needs  of  India,  social,  political,  and  personal. 

The  ordination  of  the  first  American  foreign  mission- 
aries is  thus  described  by  Dr.  Thomas  S.  Barbour,  form- 
erly Secretary  of  the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 
Society : 


Assam:  The  Future  Bright  with  Hope       159 

On  February  6,  1812,  five  men  sat  together  upon  a  plain  bench 
in  a  plain  meeting-house  in  Salem,  Mass.  They  were  there  be- 
cause, as  they  had  stated  in  a  communication  to  the  General 
Association  of  Massachusetts,  their  minds  were  impressed  with 
the  duty  of  personally  attempting  a  mission  to  the  non-Christian 
world!  To  this  work  they  were  now  set  apart.  The  day,  we  are 
informed,  was  "  fiercely  cold,"  yet  the  church  was  thronged  with 
visitors  from  far  and  near.  The  young  men  were  described 
by  one  who  was  present  at  the  service  as  "  unpretending,  modest, 
of  a  tender,  childlike  spirit,  but  well  understanding  their  aim." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  greater  contrast  than  is 
suggested  in  the  thought  of  the  outlook  on  the  enterprise 
to  which  Adoniram  Judson,  Samuel  Newell,  Samuel  Nott, 
Gordon  Hall,  and  Luther  Rice  were  set  apart,  then  and 
now.  To  the  congregation  gathered  for  the  ordination 
service  India  seemed  remote  almost  as  another  planet. 
"  Though  they  never  expect  to  return,"  said  the  Pano- 
plast  and  Missionary  Magazine,  "  they  will  never  be  for- 
gotten." The  gates  of  India  they  feared  might  be  closed 
against  their  coming,  as  indeed  they  found  them.  Other 
great  lands  of  the  East  were  fast  barred  against  the 
people  of  the  West  and  against  the  religion  which  these 
young  men  were  going  forth  to  proclaim.  Today  East 
and  West  are  met  together.  The  peoples  of  Eastern 
lands  are  our  neighbors.  Their  doors  are  wide  open. 
The  Christian  faith  numbers  its  temples  and  its  great 
companies  of  worshipers  in  all  the  lands  of  the  Orient. 
All  the  great  nations  of  the  East  are  wide-open  today, 
throbbing  and  vibrant  with  newly  awakened  life  such  as 
the  world  has  never  witnessed  before.  The  most  im- 
pressive fact  as  one  views  the  present  movement  in  Asia 
is  that  it  is  not  an  enterprise  of  individuals.  Individuals 
are  borne  on  the  movement.  What  one  feels  is  the  heave 
of  a  mighty  tide  of  life  moving  through  the  world,  greater 
than  men,  sfreater  than  nations,  bearing  men  and  nations 


160  Following  the  Pioneers 

onward  in  the  grip  of  greater  forces  that  clearly  have  an 
order  within  them  and  purpose  to  fulfil. 

The  experiences  of  these  years  not  only  illustrate  the 
need  of  a  new  life  for  the  world,  but  constitute  an  appeal 
to  humanity  to  launch  forth  its  resources  and  to  attempt 
mighty  tasks,  ''  to  attempt  great  things  for  God,  and 
expect  great  things  from  God,"  to  rely  boldly  upon  Jesus' 
own  words,  ''  The  works  that  I  do  shall  ye  do  also,  and 
greater  works  than  these  shall  ye  do."  The  greater  spirit 
of  sacrifice  and  noble  daring  in  nations  witnessed  during 
the  World  War  comes  as  a  summons  to  the  Christian 
church  to  return  to  the  wonder-working  days,  days  of 
moral  and  spiritual  miracles,  days  when  men  achieved  the 
impossible  for  God  and  the  salvation  of  men. 

Our  task  is  fundamentally  a  spiritual  task.  If  we  de- 
pend upon  material  forces  alone,  we  are  doomed  to  cer- 
tain and  irretrievable  failure.  The  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ- 
is  all-sufficient  for  the  individual,  the  nation,  and  the  race. 
It  need  not  be  changed,  and  it  cannot  be  given  up  without 
darkening  the  hope  of  the  world.  Our  hope  is  in  the 
Lord  God  who  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  us,  who  but 
waits  to  fill  the  hearts  of  all  people  with  his  spirit,  that  the 
whole  world  may  be  filled  with  his  glory. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Vincent  A.  Smith,  "  Oxford  History  of  India  from  the 
EarHest  Times  to  the  End  of  1911."  1919.  Maps.  Ox- 
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Sir  Verney  Lovett,  '*  History  of  the  Indian  Nationalist 
Movement."     1921.     F.  A.  Stokes  Company,  N.  Y. 

F.  B.  Fisher  and  Gertrude  M.  WiUiams,  "  India's  Silent 
Revolution."     1919.    Macmillan  Company,  N.  Y. 

Sir  Thomas  W.  Holderness,  "  Peoples  and  Problems  of 
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William  Paton,  "  Social  Ideals  in  India."  1919. 
United,  Council  for  Missionary  Education,  London. 

A  Commission  of  Inquiry,  "  Village  Education  in 
India."     1920.    Oxford  University  Press,  N.  Y. 

J.  N.  Farquhar,  "The  Crown  of  Hinduism."  1917. 
Oxford  University  Press,  N.  Y. 

J.  N.  Farquhar,  ''  Modern  Religious  Movements  in 
India."     1915.     Macmillan  Company,  N.  Y. 

W.  E.  S.  Holland,  "  The  Goal  of  India."  1918.  United 
Council  for  Missionary  Education,  London. 

Alden  H.  Clark,  "  India  on  the  March."  1922.  Mis- 
sionary Education  Movement,  N.  Y. 

G.  E.  Phillips,  "  The  Outcastes'  Hope :  or  Work  Among 
the  Depressed  Classes  in  India."  1912.  United  Council 
for  Missionary  Education.  London. 

John  E.  Clough,  "  Social  Christianity  in  the  Orient : 
The  Story  of  a  Man,  a  Mission,  and  a  Movement."  1914. 
•Macmillan  Company,  N.  Y. 

161 


162  Bibliography 


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B.  H.  Streeter  and  A.  J.  Appasamy,  ''  Message  of 
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D.  J.  Fleming,  ''  Building  with  India."  Published 
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F.  Deaville  Walker,  "  India  and  Her  Peoples."  1922. 
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J.  N.  Cushing,  ''  Christ  and  Buddha."  The  American 
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MAPS 


British  India.  Showing  Baptist  Mission  Stations. 
Paper.     30  inches  by  40  inches.     35  cents. 

India  and  Ceylon.  Including  Burma  and  Assam, 
Paper.  38  inches  by  47  inches.  Showing  Mission  Sta- 
tions of  all  American  Societies.    60  cents. 


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